I am always introduced to male photojournalist and photographers, but never really women. Today I watched part of a documentary about Natalie Forbes, who captures the essence of cultural and environmental through a lens.
One of her projects was the Pacific Salmon and how one moment became a 10 year project. However, the focus was not just the salmon, but the cultures that depended on the fish itself. He photographs capture a story in a sense, that starts with the life of the salmon and how where it goes during its life span, to eventually the death of the salmon. Forbes photographs the journey of the fish by capturing its every stage of life from the water, to the fishermen, and to the market. Her images are both striking and mesmerizing.
One thing that really caught me off guard is her enthusiasm to write. When she was told to submit her work to the Pulitzer Prize, not for photography, but for creative writing, I was caught off guard. However, as a young photographer, there is always so much emphasis to write from my mentors. They are always telling me to write, blog, blog or write write write!!! This summer, I worked on my writing and it was great to know that it helps not only with your line of work, but yourself as an artist.
I also saw a different perspective that Forbes had on writing. She emphasized in order not be overwhelmed by your work, that you must have two seperate journals. One journal for journalistic writings and the second for your personal writings. As I am still learning, I thought that this point was awesome.
I also saw this video and thought it was pretty interesting : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGflRQp5cAw
diBenedetto Photography 