Photography — Blog — S.R. Montgomery

In March of 2020 we moved from Houston, TX to Washington, DC. Leaving behind everyone we love and a job I truly delighted in. A couple of my coworkers gave me a really sweet gift before I left, including a book titled, “Women In Art; 50 Fearless Creatives Who Inspired The World” by Rachel Ignotofsky. It’s a beautifully illustrated book with brief bios on 50 different women throughout history, all brilliant artists in different mediums.

I began implementing a nap routine for our daughter, Ellery, once we moved and started reading her a book every time I laid her down for a nap. VERY quickly I got bored of reading through her short children’s books repeatedly so I started looking something with a little for substance and length to read to her. A book celebrating female artists with fun illustrations seemed like the perfect thing, and so we began. I’ve read this book to her now probably 5 times through and I always get a creative itch when I read it. One artist in particular that inspires me every time is Julia Margaret Cameron.

Julia Margaret Cameron, who I’d never heard of before, was an English photographer born in Calcutta in 1815. Julia didn’t become a photographer until her children gave her a wooden camera when she was 48 years old. Photography wasn’t considered an art at the time but purely a way to preserve memories. Julia allowed her subjects to move in her images, creating dreamy blurs. She sought to capture emotions and tell stories through her images. While being judged by photographers of the time she was accepted by painters. I love that she didn’t start her career until she was nearly 50 years old. I love that she knew nothing about photography when she began and was able to create something totally knew because she didn’t know the rules.

I began writing this blog in June of 2020 (nearly a YEAR AGO NOW) when I took some photos of Ellery. I am a GREAT procrastinator when it comes to my own work. Constantly telling myself no one wants to see it, that’s it’s not interesting or good, that if I was more trained I could do more impressive work. But on occasion another voice comes through that says, “Ignore the rules. Ignore what everyone else is doing and just try and execute on the ideas that come to you. Learn through mistakes and happy accidents.” Being inspired by Julia Margaret Cameron, Jaime Beck (a current photographer who I began following on IG early in the pandemic), and of course Sally Mann (one of my photography idols who notoriously photographs her children ), and moving to a completely new place at the beginning of a global pandemic, I wanted to try creating more painterly photos with Elle as my muse. She was not mobile then so it was very easy to take pictures of her. I could never ever get her to be still for a styled and posed photo shoot now, especially with something as delicate as a Maple seed crown.

One day her and I were laying in the backyard and the Japanese Maple tree above us was shedding its bright red seeds. I began putting them in Ellery’s hair and took a picture on my phone. Then I collected a handful of the maple seeds, clipped some the massive Hydrangeas that were also growing out there and set up a shoot. I wanted to play with multiple exposure, grain, and slightly baroque lighting. Most of the multiple exposures did not turn out well but it was fun to try. These are the images I came out that I was pleased with. Nearly a year later (face palm).