Name of Artist: Jessica Whitaker
Dates of Artists Life: (no dates found)
Her Links:
YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHcK_QIEM0KECFzYUym497A
Website- http://www.jessicawhitaker.co/blog/?category=portraits
Blog - http://www.jessicawhitaker.co/blog/
1. Personal Background: Jessica grew up in Seattle, Washington and recently moved to New York City in Manhattan to further her photography career. She started a company called Build and Bloom which is a creative classroom made up of photographers, graphic designers, bloggers, etc.. used to help further careers and collaborate on art. She dropped out of fashion school after finishing her degree in order to pursue photography. In high school she job shadowed, assisted, and started to second shoot at events. She is a portrait and wedding photographer with a strong belief in God that drives her in her daily life and career. She has also created her own line of six preset packs which range from $25.00-$60.00. She previously attended FIT in NYC for college interested in pursuing fashion which she didn’t end up enjoying. This led her to go on medication for depression and end up see a therapist due to her experience in college. She transferred colleges and graduated with a liberal arts degree. After college she got a job working with social media and then began to start pursuing photography professional. She has been shooting for eight years now and counting.
2. Style: Jessica likes to work with models who have unique looks and personalities so her photos represent a wide range of people. She likes working with boys, stylists who do late 70s and early 80s fashion, and both bright colors and nude palettes (which can depend on the model). She expresses her client’s personalities in her photos. All of her hobbies are centered around creating and communicating with people. She shoots with top of the line equipment and premium software with a quick turnaround time and competitive prices.
3. Philosophy: In her photos Jessica likes to represent the feelings her clients want to portray. In normal portrait photographs it’s almost always the photographer’s style, color palette, and character that is represented through their images. That is what makes her photographs special, they are representative of who the models are and how they feel. In fashion and bloggers shoots they tend to have a more sophisticated look. This is common in those fields which makes her photos well suited to the occasion. This also applies with wedding pictures which she also does. Using softer light, editing, and saturation so it represents a more thoughtful and whimsical mood. Overall her pictures are occasion based.
4. Influences: Jessica grew up in Seattle, Washington which influenced her editing. She has a preset pack, one of which, is stateside inspired by the pacific northwest, these presets reflect where she grew up and fell in love with photography. Her preset red letter days is inspired by her belief we have the power to turn any moment into a red letter day. She says “we bring our cameras in expectation of capturing the best moments of our lives.” A lot of her editing is inspired by major moments and experiences she's had throughout her life that she portrays through her images.
5. Sources: http://www.jessicawhitaker.co/blog/?category=portraits
1. Untitled: This is another portrait of model, Chelsea, against dark leaves (appears to be a bush) with a slight light fade on the left side of the picture. The picture is taken from her waist up and she is looking into the camera with her arms crossed one holding her arm. She is wearing brown and the whole picture has a darker tone to it.
2. Untitled: This is a portrait of model, Chelsea, against a brown background that compliments her brown outfit. Her hair is slightly blowing and her left hand is on the bottom of her face and she is glancing at the ground away from the camera. This picture is taken again from the waist up.
3. Untitled: The final picture of model, Chelsea, on the campus of Washington University in black and white. She is wearing a coat and her hair is blowing in her face. One of her arms is across her body holding her waist the other is across her top half holding her hair. There is a tree crossing over the building in the background
6. Compare and Contrast
I took these on a day where it was 90 outside (the forecast had this for the temperature for a week and I didn’t have much of a choice when it came to weather) so having my model wear dark colors and a coat was completely out of the question. We decided to have her wear something neutral because that seems to be a common theme in these photos. The first picture is my favorite although we used lighter steps than in Jessica’s picture I think it matched her skin tone and the style we went for well. In my picture my model was a little more serious than the original. This was probably because with her hair wasn’t blowing and her face had some shadows, which actually made me like it better than Jessica’s version. Her head could have been slightly more tilted but that was a minor detail I didn’t feel really was all that important. In the second picture my model’s body also could have been a little more angled. Editing in her style however was easier than I had anticipated probably because we have similar tastes which made it easier for me to edit. I like how the leaves in my picture were bigger it made the picture seem like it had a solid background opposed to if I would have used smaller leaves as in the original. The last photo my models hand could have been a little bit higher and there wasn’t a sidewalk in the background but I didn’t mind because that doesn’t really matter in the overall picture. We have the same shades of black and white which I was happy about. I was glad I took these during golden hour it made some cool shadows when I stood in front of my subject taking the picture and it was easy to see her face because the light was directly hitting it.
7. Personal Artistic Statement
My first photo is of my model Amber on the steps of Angell Hall in downtown Ann Arbor. It uses a lot of common colors, from the tan in the stairs and railing as well as her skin tone that gives everything have a sense of unity. The rhythm in the stairs also gave the photo depth showing different levels and heights in the background that make it more interesting than a solid background. My second photo Amber is posing in a thick bush the diag. The shape and visible veins of the leaves bring texture to the photo and also help frame her to establish a focal point. In my third photo we took it outside a university building. I wanted to help incorporate architecture so there was an interesting background but there wasn’t so much noise it distracted from the model.
Dates of Artists Life: (no dates found)
Her Links:
YouTube- https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCHcK_QIEM0KECFzYUym497A
Website- http://www.jessicawhitaker.co/blog/?category=portraits
Blog - http://www.jessicawhitaker.co/blog/
1. Personal Background: Jessica grew up in Seattle, Washington and recently moved to New York City in Manhattan to further her photography career. She started a company called Build and Bloom which is a creative classroom made up of photographers, graphic designers, bloggers, etc.. used to help further careers and collaborate on art. She dropped out of fashion school after finishing her degree in order to pursue photography. In high school she job shadowed, assisted, and started to second shoot at events. She is a portrait and wedding photographer with a strong belief in God that drives her in her daily life and career. She has also created her own line of six preset packs which range from $25.00-$60.00. She previously attended FIT in NYC for college interested in pursuing fashion which she didn’t end up enjoying. This led her to go on medication for depression and end up see a therapist due to her experience in college. She transferred colleges and graduated with a liberal arts degree. After college she got a job working with social media and then began to start pursuing photography professional. She has been shooting for eight years now and counting.
2. Style: Jessica likes to work with models who have unique looks and personalities so her photos represent a wide range of people. She likes working with boys, stylists who do late 70s and early 80s fashion, and both bright colors and nude palettes (which can depend on the model). She expresses her client’s personalities in her photos. All of her hobbies are centered around creating and communicating with people. She shoots with top of the line equipment and premium software with a quick turnaround time and competitive prices.
3. Philosophy: In her photos Jessica likes to represent the feelings her clients want to portray. In normal portrait photographs it’s almost always the photographer’s style, color palette, and character that is represented through their images. That is what makes her photographs special, they are representative of who the models are and how they feel. In fashion and bloggers shoots they tend to have a more sophisticated look. This is common in those fields which makes her photos well suited to the occasion. This also applies with wedding pictures which she also does. Using softer light, editing, and saturation so it represents a more thoughtful and whimsical mood. Overall her pictures are occasion based.
4. Influences: Jessica grew up in Seattle, Washington which influenced her editing. She has a preset pack, one of which, is stateside inspired by the pacific northwest, these presets reflect where she grew up and fell in love with photography. Her preset red letter days is inspired by her belief we have the power to turn any moment into a red letter day. She says “we bring our cameras in expectation of capturing the best moments of our lives.” A lot of her editing is inspired by major moments and experiences she's had throughout her life that she portrays through her images.
5. Sources: http://www.jessicawhitaker.co/blog/?category=portraits
1. Untitled: This is another portrait of model, Chelsea, against dark leaves (appears to be a bush) with a slight light fade on the left side of the picture. The picture is taken from her waist up and she is looking into the camera with her arms crossed one holding her arm. She is wearing brown and the whole picture has a darker tone to it.
2. Untitled: This is a portrait of model, Chelsea, against a brown background that compliments her brown outfit. Her hair is slightly blowing and her left hand is on the bottom of her face and she is glancing at the ground away from the camera. This picture is taken again from the waist up.
3. Untitled: The final picture of model, Chelsea, on the campus of Washington University in black and white. She is wearing a coat and her hair is blowing in her face. One of her arms is across her body holding her waist the other is across her top half holding her hair. There is a tree crossing over the building in the background
6. Compare and Contrast
I took these on a day where it was 90 outside (the forecast had this for the temperature for a week and I didn’t have much of a choice when it came to weather) so having my model wear dark colors and a coat was completely out of the question. We decided to have her wear something neutral because that seems to be a common theme in these photos. The first picture is my favorite although we used lighter steps than in Jessica’s picture I think it matched her skin tone and the style we went for well. In my picture my model was a little more serious than the original. This was probably because with her hair wasn’t blowing and her face had some shadows, which actually made me like it better than Jessica’s version. Her head could have been slightly more tilted but that was a minor detail I didn’t feel really was all that important. In the second picture my model’s body also could have been a little more angled. Editing in her style however was easier than I had anticipated probably because we have similar tastes which made it easier for me to edit. I like how the leaves in my picture were bigger it made the picture seem like it had a solid background opposed to if I would have used smaller leaves as in the original. The last photo my models hand could have been a little bit higher and there wasn’t a sidewalk in the background but I didn’t mind because that doesn’t really matter in the overall picture. We have the same shades of black and white which I was happy about. I was glad I took these during golden hour it made some cool shadows when I stood in front of my subject taking the picture and it was easy to see her face because the light was directly hitting it.
7. Personal Artistic Statement
My first photo is of my model Amber on the steps of Angell Hall in downtown Ann Arbor. It uses a lot of common colors, from the tan in the stairs and railing as well as her skin tone that gives everything have a sense of unity. The rhythm in the stairs also gave the photo depth showing different levels and heights in the background that make it more interesting than a solid background. My second photo Amber is posing in a thick bush the diag. The shape and visible veins of the leaves bring texture to the photo and also help frame her to establish a focal point. In my third photo we took it outside a university building. I wanted to help incorporate architecture so there was an interesting background but there wasn’t so much noise it distracted from the model.