PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT OF PHOTOGRAPHY BECCA MICHAEL
THEN
2009
NOW
2018
I began using 35mm film in early 2009 at the end of my junior year in high school. At that time, I was studying drawing and painting, which I had been doing since 2007. My teacher learned I was interested in photography and approached me about pursuing photography. The next day, I brought my dad’s Olympus OM-2 to class and was shown how to load the film. Without any instruction, she said, "Let's see what you can do." I shot my first roll of film, learned to develop it, and printed the contact sheet. I remember how excited I was when I took my film out of the developing tank. The magic of chemistry right before my eyes. The same excitement occurred when I made my first photograph. Before I shot this roll of film, I talked to my dad about how to use the camera. The only thing he told me was that I wanted to get the needle in the center of the meter. Without knowing much of anything about film, I started to click away. Dog is one of the first photographs that I took from that roll. Despite not having instruction, I am amazed at how it turned out so well. It has
Dog, early 2009, 8x10, Silver Gelatin Print
high contrast and good composition, but I would say that is from studying drawing and painting for so long. It is easy to see that this is from the first set of images I took
because I focused on photographing objects, instead of concepts or more meaningful subjects.
Chores, 2009, 10 x 8, Silver Gelatin Print
In Smoke, Summer 2009, 5 x 7, Silver Gelatin Print
Dishes, Summer 2009, 10 x 8, Silver Gelatin Print
In Smoke, Dishes, and Chores were taken of my parents. My compositions had become more dynamic and focused on the subject. I struggled with working with models, so I allowed for spontaneous shots to happen. My mother began to get frustrated when I would watch her with the camera and say, “Freeze!� In Smoke is not a staged shot, my father smokes cigars while he does yard work. While taking a break from cutting the grass, I snapped this photo of him.
Scratch is when I began to experiment with technical aspects of photography, as well as, more topic-based work. I used a long exposure time and self-timer to capture a photograph of my scratching my leg. This was part of a series that was about dermatillomania. This obsessive-compulsive disorder causes the
Scratch, 2009, 8 x 10, Silver Gelatin Print
person to pick at their skin, pull out their hair, and picking at their nails. I suffer from this disorder because it is linked to my anxiety. This was the first series I completed research on a topic before photographing. I learned a lot about myself and the topic in the process. Heavy is another photograph that I used to communicate the feeling of depression. My image had varying value that were either too dark or too light, so I had to learn how to dodge and burn the photograph. This simple technique pushed the values in my lights and showed more details in my darks.
Heavy, 2009, 8 x 10, Silver Gelatin Print
In the photograph Aiden, I practiced placing two negatives on top of each other in the darkroom. Aiden was a friend of mine throughout high school that was my go-to model for my projects. When we went to shoot, I saw her become a whole different
Aiden, 2009, 5 x 7, Silver Gelatin Print
person. The resulting photographs were fine on their own, but I wanted to communicate this double personality that she had. My father was always willing to help me out with my photography projects. He would let me photograph him while he was doing all sorts of tasks. My father is an allaround handyman, as well as a businessman. In Business, he had come home from work and began working on putting hardwood floors in our upstairs hallway, while still in his work clothes. Around this time, he was always away on business trips. Trip Planning Business, 2010, 10 x 8, Silver Gelatin Print
is a photograph that used a long exposure time to show his shifting figure in a ghostly sense because just like in the photograph, he was not fully there at the time. I continued my love of photography into college. My work became more about topics instead of objects or people that I saw. My professor pushed me to develop a personal voice and aesthetic. Each week we were assigned to select
Trip Planning, 2010, 10 x 8, Silver Gelatin Print
an artist and one of their photographs to critique. These assignments allowed me to look at images that interested me and artists to be inspired by. I looked at photographs from Ansel Adams, Sally Mann, and Dorothea Lange. Sally Mann became a personal favorite because her photographs can be interpreted in so many ways. During difficult times in my life, I went back to the darkroom to find myself and who I am.
Providence Canyon, 2013, 8 x 10, Silver Gelatin Print
Roots, 2013, 10 x 8, Silver Gelatin Print
Providence Canyon, Reclaim, and Roots are from a series of photographs taken in Providence Reclaim, 2013, 8 x 10, Silver Gelatin Print
Canyon in Georgia. My professor
said in class, “I am going on a photography camping trip to Providence Canyon this weekend. While I cannot call this a field trip, if you happen to show up at the same campground, we can photograph together.� I jumped on this chance to get away from the same scenes of Valdosta, Georgia. With ten rolls of film, camping gear, and a few classmates, we went to the location. I shot through all my rolls of film in that trip. I never let an opportunity slip to take photographs while seeing this beautiful location in Georgia that I had never heard of. I learned that developing relationships
with people of similar interest is helpful to the creative process. I was able to share ideas and experiences with these classmates while pursuing my own photographic images. These photographs used a variety of compositions and focus. Providence Canyon uses depth of field to change the focus of the subject, for example. These photography classes were helpful to me as an artist and as a person. The last set of images are from my Black and White Photography class at the University of Florida in Summer 2018. This was my first on campus class at UF. Before coming to UF for this class, I had started to become bored with the assignments I was assigning in my Photography classes that I teach. I used
Pills 4, 2018, 8 x 10, Photogram
this opportunity to come up with new ideas for assignments to keep the classes interesting and relevant. My topics for my UF class focused on the use of medication being labeled as all natural. Pills 4 was the first assignment we had to create photograms. The objects we used in these All Natural 2, 2018, 8 x 10, Silver Gelatin Print
photographs were later to be used out in the environment for photographs. All Natural 2 is a resulting image from that series. I placed the pills in a rock formation that I had come across to make them seem like
they are picked from that spot. With a day to photograph, I pushed my creativity to create interesting scenarios that incorporated these pills. Lake Alice 2 is from an assignment about landscapes. This photograph was taken at Lake Alice, which is near the UF campus. I got to explore campus to find a type of landscape around the area. It was amazing to see the number of students that were on campus during the Summer to complete classes. Coming from a smaller school, it was overwhelming to trek around campus. Overall, the experience for this class renewed my love of photography.
Lake Alice 2, 2018, 8 x 10, Silver Gelatin Print
Black and white photography has been my main form of expression for several years now. I enjoy the process of photographing and not knowing what the
image looks like until later. The process is more intimate to me because I must physically manipulate the images to get what I want. The time and care it takes to create the images show dedication and skill. I will always love photography and the excitement of seeing a roll of film turn out. It will never get old to see the results of decades of science to get to this point of creation.