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The Visual Narrations of Selah Marie

Brooke Nicholson | June 11, 2020

Topics: fashion, modeling, photographer, photography, portrait photography, Selah Marie

Richmond portrait photographer Selah Marie started out as a model, but it was only when she got behind the camera that she truly found her calling in life.

You never know what you’ll fall into. Even if you have a clear goal for what you want to do, things can happen that lead you in a different direction entirely. For Richmond-based photographer Selah Marie, this was definitely the case. When she realized modeling might not be her calling, she tried stepping behind the camera instead and found that it came naturally for her. The results were enough to make her forget about her original goal of fashion modeling for good.

“I always had a camera, ever since I was younger, and I’ve always taken pictures. But I didn’t find it to be my passion until 2015,” she explains. “I guess when I used to watch America’s Next Top Model and stuff like that, I wanted to be a model. But when I got in front of someone else’s camera, that went… not how I expected it to go. After looking at the images of myself, I was like, ‘Oh no, I can’t do this.’”

Marie found that her lifelong dream wasn’t what she was meant to do with her life. But she soon found a new passion, seemingly by accident, only landing on photography after she began playing around with a camera and wanting to learn how to shoot.

“Let me just pick up a camera and figure it out,” she says, describing her thought process at the time. “And then I just reached out to some models, and I was just like… shooting.”

While photographing individuals from the area, portrait photography gradually became a primary focus for Marie. Photographing a single person and creating unique photos became a discipline she wanted to perfect. It’s not her only interest as a photographer — there are other areas she hopes to dive into, as she explained.

“Oh my God, fashion. That’s one of the things I’m trying to get into, as far as practicing,” says Marie. “However, my comfort zone is portraits.”

While portrait photography is a common specialty in the world of photography, Marie differs from others when it comes to the ways she composes her shots. Natural props like flowers have become a staple of her photography, and she loves the aesthetic of film, although mastering it was challenging to her at first, because she had to learn how to recreate that aesthetic through digital means.

“[The models] were like, ‘Oh my God, did you shoot with a film camera?’ But no, I don’t have one,” she says of her process. “I would use the grains to add texture, because I wasn’t that familiar with Photoshop. So I would just replace it with grain to make the image look like it has more texture in the skin.”

Learning the skills of photographic composition was challenging enough, but one of Marie’s biggest challenges came from learning how to use the equipment she was given. While cell phones have made photographers out of everyone, understanding the high-end Nikons and Canons that professionals use can prove to be difficult at first. 

“When I first started shooting in the daylight, the sun would be too much. So my images would be overly exposed,” she says. “I was like, ‘Oh my God, what is going on here?’ That was one of the hardest challenges for me, trying to shoot daylight. [For a while,] I was really stuck in the studio.”

Marie eventually mastered adapting to changing surroundings, and has since branched out of portrait photography, capturing graduation and wedding photos.

“I’m just now starting to let people know that I do more than what they see on my main page. I just started putting up the graduation photos and engagement photos, because I want people to know that I do everything,” she says. “I’m a creative photographer, but I can do your engagement shoot.”

While it was never her original goal, these days Marie hopes to build a future for herself in the world of photography, and she’s even thinking about moving into the world of video.

“I do see it being long term,” she says. “I can’t go full time [yet], but I do see that down the road. I also see me being behind the scenes of movies, sharing my ideas with directors and seeing the things I create inside the movie. That’s one of my other goals as well.”

Photography doesn’t come easy when you just happen to fall into it, but Marie has been lucky to do something with her work that is not only beneficial for the people she shoots, but for her as well. Marie knows that her photography not only helps those in front of her camera open up, but gives her the creative outlet to express herself as well.

“Everybody tells me the same thing: how I make them feel when they’re in front of my camera,” she says. “They will tell me that I make them feel more confident than ever in front of a camera, or even away from it. Like, I made them feel so beautiful. And then, when I show them the image, they’re like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe she made me look like this.’ Just to see the smile on my client’s face or a model’s face, their reaction lights up my world. That’s my favorite part — that’s what keeps me going.”

All photos by Selah Marie

“The Tragicly Poetic” Series Opens A Dark World of Nightmares and Redemption

Ashley Loth | August 30, 2018

Topics: dark poetry, dark worlds, dreams, nightmares, photo, photographer, photography, Poetic, rva photo, Tragic, virginia

*Editors Note:

RVA Mag came across Ashley Loth’s images by chance and found them powerful, dark, and atmospheric. A dreamscape of anxiety and apprehension drawn across a world both accessible and ephemeral. We asked Loth to explain in her own words what creating this photo series meant for her. 

“The Tragicly Poetic” is a series that opens up a closed door, focusing on childhood trauma, young adult life experiences, along with sensitive issues on rape, eating disorders, depression, mental illness, addiction, infidelity and abusive relationships. This series reclaims the power I felt I’d lost. A bleeding heart, I pour everything I have into what I do. This series is a mixture of understanding that everyone has a dark side, and honoring that sometimes playing the villain in someone else’s story is what is needed so they can rise up and be their own hero.

And sometimes redemption is not needed by those who have hurt you and that the only closure you have is by freeing yourself from that hurt.

The second book in the “Tragicly Poetic Series,” is “The Blue Book,” and has separate chapters facing those issues, recreating scenes from both real-world experience and nightmares. Using multiple poems, I included conceptual photography for each poem. The images depict what I experienced or viewed in dreams. For example, one chapter titled “Monster,” dives deep into my mental psych in my young adult years. The relatable chapter brings the thoughts and feelings of being a lost soul into a visual and emotional encounter for the reader.

For years, I have had these dreams that were experiences that happened to me, that were twisted by my mind to make them more dream-like and fictional. I decided to write about them along with trying to recreate those dreams in my reality to further understand the root of that pain.

I hope that people find the same healing and empowerment from the introspective and creative series and hope to shed light on experiences and feelings many people hide from in the dark. In doing so, I and the viewers can “take the power back.”

“The Blue Book” is slated for a fall 2019 release. More work by Ashley Loth can be found here.

Photos By: Ashley Loth of Sound Snap Photography, Model: Alice Reed

RVA Global: Street Photography in Taiwan

Benjah White | July 31, 2018

Topics: On the Beat, photographer, RVA Global, Street Photography, Taiwan, Traveler

I had the opportunity in May 2017 to visit and stay with some international friends working abroad in Taipei, Taiwan. This would be my first trip to Asia, and I was beyond excited to practice street photography outside of the United States. As a Republic of China, Taiwan is a democratic country, which helped with mentally preparing for the cultural differences photographing people abroad. 

Street photography puts you directly in contact with strangers to capture unmediated encounters inside of public domains, typically for artistic and/or journalistic reasons. So, the slight concern was creating confrontational situations with foreign people whom I had no means of communicating with verbally, for the most part. Being as respectable as possible was a main priority of mine when photographing street scenes, but regardless of how civil you may act, it is unavoidable that you will occasionally cross paths with individuals who absolutely do not want their photograph taken by a random passerby.  

Upon arriving in Taiwan, I was absolutely overwhelmed by the sheer vastness of Taipei City. I had done my research leading up to the trip, but there is something to be said about the stark difference between reading about a place, and actually physically moving around said place. The small island’s population is roughly 23 million, 90 percent of whom live on the island proper. Taipei City consists of about 4 million living in only 10 districts, which makes the city feel rather crowded. Apparent in the architecture, many people reside in dense high rises composed of small domiciles ( typically one bed, one bath). Basically, I was semi-prepared for the vast numbers of people I was surrounded by on a daily basis.

The first day moving through the city, I was definitely more apprehensive to capture scenes around me compared to visiting large U.S. cities. But, by the end of day two, I found myself becoming exponentially more comfortable approaching scenarios to photograph. Taoist monks were some of the first subjects I snapped many photos of to get my confidence up due to the fact they were typically praying on street corners or handing out prayer sheets and were un-phased by my large Nikon in their faces. Some even played up their actions when they noticed me taking their image.

Taiwan is noteworthy for their street food and nightlife scenes, which I was aware of before this trip thanks to a childhood friend opening a successful Taiwanese street food-influenced restaurant, Win Son, in Brooklyn. Of the various major night markets throughout Taipei, the Shilin Night Market stuck out the most for me. It is composed of two levels; a food cart area composed of over 500 vendor stalls, and the second floor which acts as a parking lot for over 400 cars. 

The sheer vastness of the facility had me in such awe with the medley of lights, people and smells emanating from the food carts. Frog egg jelly, grilled squid on a stick, and live crayfish flash fried on the spot were just a few of the typical food offerings we encountered. Smell is not typically a sensation I experience whenever I look back on my photos, but the piquantness of all the traditional Taiwanese foods melding together throughout the market is now always evoked upon reviewing these images. 

As we weaved through the cluttered aisles lined with carts, I must have looked like an awestruck kid entering Disney World for the first time. The dancing lights in combination with the dull roar of hundreds of people milling about put me into a trance-like state at points, and I found myself posting up on corners; capturing scenes as they came to me.  

Experiencing a foreign country’s daily life scenarios has definitely evolved my perspective as a street photog. My confidence with my process was boosted and allowed me to incorporate a deeper interaction with subjects on the streets. I appreciated the opportunity to further my vision through the lens, and can’t wait to photograph another foreign setting.”

Scroll on for more street photos of Taiwan from visual artist Benjah White journey below:

Color, Culture, and One Little Bunny: The Work of Photographer Janpim Wolf

RVA Staff | November 2, 2017

Topics: Janpim Wolf, photographer, richmond, RVA, virginia

All photography is about using your experience to capture a specific moment in its infancy and then bring it to life in a profound way. Janpim Wolf is a woman who has been able to marry these things in order to portray certain moments at their zenith. Over the years, she has been a photographer, field instructor, and art educator based out of Richmond, Virginia. Her photographic style has been shaped by her travels abroad, as well as her ability to capture genuine human expressions in places that remain obscure and off the trodden path. Some of this started with her love of international travel at a young age, specifically visiting her mother’s family every summer in Thailand and traveling to other parts of the world with her journalist father. All of this has informed her professional photographic approach.

Since 2014, she has been leading groups of high school students as an experimental educator in Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam with cross-cultural educational tours such as: Where There Be Dragons, National Geographic Student Expedition, and Putney Student Travel. Facilitating transformation in her students as they become more well-rounded individuals through hands-on learning and immersive cultural experiences helps them leave the tourist mentality behind – which is important in today’s over-contextualized world.

Documenting her adventures using her photography is a way to showcase new spaces and connect with people from all walks of life. As an example of this exploration, Janpim recently went to her first Burning Man in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, where she was the official photographer for the art car, Davina the Dragon.

Some of her best photos documenting her experiences both in the US and abroad can be found below: 

Ashton Hill Spinning Fire with a Levitation Wand at Floyd Fest this Past Summer.

The Carnival of 5 Fires 2017

Balliceaux

Burning Man

Burning Man

A Farm in Richmond

Mural Outside of Sabai

Lights at a Night Market in Thailand

Kitty Face Pouches at Night Market is in Thailand

Chinese Opera performers taken in Bangkok, Thailand while they prep for their show. These performances aim to preserve traditional Chinese culture and combine musical performance with legends and drama. The performances take place in Chinatown’s Yaowarat neighborhood during Chinese festivals and holidays, such as the Vegetarian Festival and the Chinese New Year. The entertainers spend hours transforming themselves by meticulously putting on elaborate make-up and adorning themselves with colorful costumes. This particular image is of an actor grabbing a smoke while he waits for the rest of the crew to finish up.

Chinese Opera Actress in Thailand

Bunny Taken in Richmond, VA

Follow Janpim Wolf: wolfjanpim

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