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Double Exposure Challenge Contest Winner: Sheila Gardner
By DE Staff | Cover Archives |
Nov 16, 2009
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Congratulations to Sheila Gardner, the winner of Double Exposure's Children's Photo Contest.
Here is more about Sheila.
I have had an interest in photography from an early age, as early as 10 years old when I was given my first camera as a Christmas present. I delighted in my first black and white image of a cow and my second of my grandmother sitting on a wall. For years I had also watched my father meticulously washing and then drying his glass slides on newspaper by the fire before mounting his transparencies and subjecting us to annual slide shows of family vacations! So there was always an interest there. I didn't really start reading seriously about how to photograph until I was at University. Shortly after starting my first job and buying my own flat in Edinburgh I immediately converted the food cupboard in the kitchen into a mini darkroom. It could only have been about 4 feet square but I would spend hours watching my photos arise magically from the developing trays and soon my flatmates would become quite accustomed to an exotic display of photos around the walls to dry and thought I was a little crazy! On and off I attended local camera clubs in Edinburgh and London and while learning a few tips here and there my photographic skills really did not improve a great deal and eventually the hobby was forgotten.
Many years went by while I was busy pursuing a career in London as a stock market analyst and then going to medical school. I now practice as an anesthesiologist but during all the years of studying and working during residency there was certainly no time to indulge in any photography at all. It has only been in the last 2-3 years that I have found the time to rekindle my interest in photography and to tackle it more conscientiously. It has now become an all consuming passion and a very satisfying one particularly with the advent of digital photography which I have found to enhance the learning process because of its immediate feedback. It was always more difficult to learn from film because by the time my photos came back from the lab I could never remember the camera settings nor what I was trying to achieve.
One of the best things I have done in the last few years was to join the Professional Photographers' Society of NY state (PPSNYS ) - the Westchester section - through which I am able to meet and mingle with professional photographers who are most willing to share their knowledge and expertise. The society's annual workshops at the Hobart & William Smith college in Geneva, NY have provided the best value for money in photographic education and an introduction to some of the top people in the photographic world nationwide. The society's quarterly print competitions, judged by PPA qualified judges, was the launching pad for making the effort to learn the rules of competition and what makes a good print. The next step in this process was to compete at the society's annual state convention, to learn from the judges there, and to eventually submit prints to the PPA's international competition. It was great honor to have an image accepted for the Loan collection in 2009. Competing against other professional photographers is a great way to learn and to help you focus your efforts.
In between all of this I have attended workshops in the USA and overseas from some great photographers and this has also satisfied my love of travel. For many years I considered myself primarily a landscape photographer but last November 2008 I was fortunate to make a trip to India with 10 other keen photographers arranged by Jim Cline tours based in San Diego. Our photographer guide for this 3 week trip to Delhi and Rajasthan was humanitarian photojournalist Karl Grobl, a wonderful photojournalist and human being. For me, it was a first introduction to street photography and to responding quickly to an ever changing scene, to quickly moving subjects and trying to capture the magic moment of a quick smile or laugh or gesture. Learning to "shoot from the hip" with a wide angle lens on one shoulder and a zoom lens on the other, both preset, one hoped, for the existing lighting conditions and at the ready was quite a challenge. There were many photographs which I would lose initially because I was unable to focus quickly enough. I am also still learning to feel comfortable with photographing people candidly without infringing on their personal space and privacy.
I had always wanted to go to India I think because of the special light which I had seen in the photographs of Henri-Cartier Bresson in India and of course the saris which add a splash of color. India was challenging in many respects because of the poverty and the children who would love to peek into your lens just as you had composed a scene and were about to press the shutter. But from a photographic perspective, it offered a wealth of opportunities and certainly did not disappoint. The Indian people were incredibly friendly with a ready smile. Women were far more reluctant to be photographed especially in the rural areas where their faces could not be shown especially amongst male elders in the village. They would delight in offering up their children to be photographed, as if it were a special honor.
The photographic image in this competition was taken in the village of Kuri which lies in the Thar desert in north-western India close to the Pakistani border. We were fortunate with our local Indian guide, who knew the terrain well, to be taken by jeep into some of the rural villages which are similar in many ways to African villages with their thatched huts and encircled by a low lying mud wall. The villages, though poor, were extremely tidy and clean and a welcome change from the towns and cities. There was inevitably quite a clash of cultures upon meeting the villagers who initially appeared shy and hesitant at meeting 10 camera-clad strangers from a very different world and with whom they could not communicate in English. The little boy in the photograph was standing with his mother, huddled against her legs, as the posse of strangers invaded his world. His mother laid her hand on his head as if to reassure him. He had a circle of charcoal painted on his forehead and the whites of his eyes look bright only because of the charcoal painted around his eyes. It is a common practice in this part of India to paint children up to the age of 7 or 8 in this manner to protect them against evil.
This photograph was taken with a Canon 50D and 70-200f/2.8L IS USM lens at 70mm in aperture priority at f/9, 1/125 secs., ISO 800. The color image was converted to sepia and then a texture overlay was superimposed on the image.
The experience of India and photographing its people has made me far more interested in photographs which contain human subjects and the spontaneity which can result from human interaction. My plan is to build up a more comprehensive portfolio of photographs, from India in particular, with a view to hosting some gallery exhibits in the near future.
All images � Sheila Gardner
email: sheila0013@aol.com
View more of Sheila's photos here: Sheila Gardner (India 2008 gallery)
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Last Updated: Jul 10th, 2010 - 16:19:44
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