Image Copyright Elizabeth Fleming

Today I am excited to feature New Jersey-based fine art photographer Elizabeth Fleming. The image above is from her lush Life is a Series of Moments series, “an ongoing body of work about intimacy and disclosure, vulnerability and awe, and the bittersweet knowledge that everything is impermanent.” Her composition and masterful use of light in every single one of the images in this series makes me swoon. Let’s get to know Elizabeth.

1. What’s the story behind this photo?

My five-year-old daughter Edie is very creative, and one day she decided she wanted to make a pirate ship out of our laundry basket. The mast is from a dismantled baby doll bassinet, and she had me write “pirate ship” on a piece of paper that we taped inside. Once playtime was over I thought the light was beautiful and muted, and I wanted to document this creative and somewhat quirky thing that she and I had made together.

2. What was it that lit your photography spark? Do you remember a particular camera, course, person, roll of film?

My parents bought me my first camera when I was about 10, a Yashica 35mm. I still have the contact sheets from my first photo shoot; I was very into double-exposures and trying to make it look like I had a twin. There’s an image of me putting my hand through my dad’s head, and some shots of the moon above a lit window. It was all in black-and-white and I have no idea where my parents got the film developed or printed. I had always considered myself an artist–I loved to draw and paint when I was very young, and photography simply felt like an extension of my creative expression. My parents have always been very encouraging; I can’t remember if I asked for the camera or they gave it to me thinking I would enjoy it, but either way they treated photography as another art form, and helped to facilitate my love of making pictures, in whatever medium I chose.

3. What’s your photo philosophy? Does it reflect your life philosophy?

My philosophy is very much about being present, really seeing what’s in front of me. When I’m behind the camera shooting I do for the most part get lost in the moment, in composing the image and feeling the excitement of interacting with the scenes I’m drawn to. I try to apply this to my daily life, but find it much more difficult. My photo philosophy really does reflect my life philosophy and I think has helped me be more present, but perhaps part of why I take pictures is in order to be reminded of how to really pay attention. So often I’m distracted or have a million ideas and thoughts running through my head, but I aspire to be less future-oriented.

4. Where do you look for inspiration?

My daily life is a huge inspiration. As I mentioned above, I really try to notice and see with conscious attention what’s around me. And my family of course is an enormous influence–my daughters provide so much of the impetus for my image-making, they’re my muses. I’m always looking at the work of others too–luckily so much is available online now, and when it’s difficult for me to get out to see shows I can instead look at blogs and the various online galleries and publications that are showing some amazing work. I’m also a big reader, and find that certain writers can really spark ideas and get that wonderful itchy creative feeling flowing in my veins–I’ve been reading a lot of Alice Munro lately, as one example.

5. What would you say is one of your ‘signature’ editing tricks, themes or style?

What do you think makes an image recognizable and uniquely yours? I almost always use a very low f-stop, generally 1.4. Because of the shallow depth of field there is usually one specific thing within any given scene that I’m literally and metaphorically focusing on, be it a dust bunny or a scrape on my daughter’s back. I also find that the shallow focus causes vignetting in the corners which I think gives my work a somewhat haunted air, which I use as a way to veer my pictures away from (I hope) any touch of sentimentality. Certainly the emphasis on interiors and my immediate surroundings contributes to my style; I find that few of my photographs are taken outdoors, so if you see the inside of a home–most likely containing a child or some sort of mess that a child has created–then that’s a sign that you’re looking at a Fleming photograph.

6. What aspect of your photography are you constantly working on, trying to improve?

I sometimes wonder if I’m too careful. I do think this is inherently part of my personality, this perfectionism–I tend to take quiet, carefully composed images, so in that sense my work is authentic to me: I’m someone who needs things in order, everything in its place. However, perhaps I need to start getting in touch a little more with my rawer side–I feel things very deeply, and while I hope this sense of emotional undercurrent comes across in my images, I think there may be times where I need to push that rawness further, to not think so much about composing the shot and simply go with it, feel it more, let myself take more “throwaway” pictures.

You can follow Elizabeth’s thoughts and images at her blog, Tethered.