Who is the inner critic anyways? For me it was something that made me focus on creating the highest quality that was possible with what I had access to at the time. What I didn’t have access to I did my best to experiment with what I could work magic with. Still my inner critic was a bit too anal for even me and many of my shoots never even saw the light of day because they weren’t thought as being top notch.
When I started scanning these old shoots that were taken back in the 90’s and early 2000’s (before digital) I noticed that in fact my profession should have been a fulltime photographer but my inner critic was so anal that I didn’t feel that I was skilled enough to do photography as a profession.
Most recently I have been getting praise from old and new friends about my magical talent and this one pictured to the right told me that these were the best photographs that were ever taken of her. Another fellow photographer told me that I need to whip the old scene back into shape in Seattle and I would personally have to agree with him about that.
I started with my own style of fashion that was greatly influenced by European editorial fashion of the 80’s, 90’s and the 1920’s. I stayed with shooting black and white because it was pretty affordable at maybe as little as $2 or $3 for a 36 exp roll. I first worked with plastic film cans and they were cheaper than the metal cans and later I upgraded to the metal because of light leak problems.
Some of the photos with light leaks really actually worked well with the different subjects I shot. This one on the right was shot from the reflection of a mirror and the light leaks make it look like it was actually planned out. This shot I also worked with what light was available form the models bathroom as well. With most shoots I ether had access to a number of Seattle locations or a model’s apartment and natural, available light or a homemade hot light.
While I was in college in the late 80’s I found out about a accidental toning effect that a classmate did and that I perfected and toned many of my photos with. It effected different papers differently from making them look like old silvered and faded images from long ago. Since the technique was pretty simple I only told a small selection of friends how I did it. I only told 2 people and gave them little bottles of the toner.
George Vernon 