The Evolution of a Portfolio

With my upcoming talk at Blue Sky approaching on the 12th of December, I’ve been spending some time looking back at how my portfolios have evolved—in particular how Displaced: Part II started one way and went through a long process of evolution before becoming was it finally was supposed to be.

So, I thought I’d take you through how that body of work started and struggled to get to where I needed it to be.

I had started the series, on Rock Creek Park in Washington, DC, in 2005. I brought my 4×5 large format camera into the park hoping to show a side of the park that I felt hadn’t been done before. The result was images that were extremely sharp, too contrasty, and generally lacking the mood I was hoping for. Here was one of the images I originally shot.

© Lauren Henkin, Rock Creek 1

While I found this image to be beautiful, it wasn’t right. It felt too soft. Not that it was out of focus, but soft in mood, too feminine almost. I took maybe 25 images like this and without finding what I wanted, or knowing how to proceed, I just stopped.

Then, a few months later, I thought maybe I was using the wrong camera or that it shouldn’t be in black and white. So I rented a digital camera (I have done this periodically to quiet the other digital photographers I know who are consistently trying to convince me that digital is better than film) and went back out. A sample from a few more trips is below.

© LaurenHenkin, Rock Creek 2

This image to me first was just not interesting at all, the digital camera could not come even close to handling the contrast that was in the park and I felt like it was just starting to look like traditional nature photography. I had strayed farther away from what I was after than when I had first started with the large format camera. So again, I abandoned the project.

Then, I was asked by washingtonpost.com to create a photographic essay titled “What It’s Like to be a Washingtonian” in two weeks. YES. An entire existence, a place I had called home for nearly thirty years in two weeks. I did the best I could. I knew I needed to shoot it in medium format (to save time and be able to move easier) and I wanted it to be in black and white. It gave me yet another opportunity to go into the park, with a third approach and attitude. An image from those outings is below.

© Lauren Henkin, Rock Creek 3

This one was getting closer, but still wasn’t want I wanted. What I was hoping to show was the fear and disorientation I felt in that place. It’s possible I just wasn’t feeling it while I was there. I say that because it wasn’t until I came back from my trip to Nova Scotia, when I was feeling truly angry and scared that the images started coming. The first image in what ended up being the final series is here…

© Lauren Henkin, RockCreek 4

THIS was what I wanted. I started to see human forms in the forest. I felt scared and alone and disoriented. I walked isolated trails in overcast skies and rain searching for the images I hadn’t been capable of seeing before. It taught me that I can’t just go after something that I’m not actually feeling myself. I think my work is usually very personal—meaning it has to be about something I’m going through or can relate to—something I’ve experienced. I just wasn’t ready to take those images until that specific time. The story wasn’t ready to be told until then. And yes, this was with yet another kind of camera. A holga, a “toy camera” as people say. I will be writing about that label in another post.

I’ll leave this with another image from that final series…

© Lauren Henkin, Rock Creek 5

More soon…

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 19th, 2009 at 11:43 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.