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Skype Interview with Amy Grace of A Beautiful Life

How are How are you doing? I'm so excited to have you here. No way. Finally connected and my kids were in the bedroom next door. Every. Me too. Me too. Well, if they make a little, uh, they pop in a little bit. That's okay. Waken say hi. So you're our third guest last Daewoo. And there was one thing that's a little bit different about your photography style beyond just the style itself. But you're our first film photographer, I should say IPhone in film. Yeah. So I thought it would be kind of fun to talk about why you decided to stay true to those to those two mediums. And I think you do have a digital camera you will play with, right, But I have a digital camera. I have not used it for a year and 1/ so I think I should probably sell it. There you go. Uh, I use I haven't f 100 which is really similar to a digital camera. And if you want to start trying, fill whether if you're nine months later, that would be the first model to go to it. So similar. It's seamless. It is it is not. It's ...

not brain surgery, it's it's just Italian scene and you learn using machine and it becomes an extension of you. So that's sort of my goal. No matter what camera shooting with. I don't want to think about the camp. I'm not really interested in all that. The technical aspects. I need to know them, uh, that I want them to be part of my bones so that I can just see in a really cure way. So So Phil, I started shooting film, and I just I love the concrete nous of it. It felt like it had sole. It felt real like Velveteen Rabbit real its own way. I was feeling about the translated into the process to I was enjoying more I I didn't, you know, shoot spray or it has slowed me down a lot and sure change my photography to shoot with a contact. Six were five so and I really love a portrait, and that is just the ultimate orchard camera. So sorry for you, then. It's not necessarily that, because it's all because you like the end result of the look of how the film looks, but it's the whole process along the way. Definitely, it's the look and the feel. It felt It feels kind of pure to me. And once I started shooting film, I needed off my digital images. And that is not to say that I hate other people. Sure know, always been really hard on myself, and I'm kind of a purist. And when it comes to things and I just felt like it was a challenge And then I learned that realize it really wasn't so much of a challenge. The lunatics. Yeah, but other than that, it just it just fit. It just fit for me and then my IPhone I use some of my favorite pictures in the past year have been taken on my IPhone. And again there is a purity to that. There is a frame you see in this rectangle, and you have to fit everything you're feeling into it. And you think about composition much better. There's more. I'm not shooting wide open, you know, like I am context. So getting a whole scene event, there's an honesty to that. So what? Actually, my birthday this year I just thought myself the least expensive like up, which is arranged buying for camera, and it's very much like eyeball because I was looking at these images and sounds like I love these images. I wish they would film, so I wanted to have a different kind of camera, and I've really been loving it. Evan, I've been loving getting all the stuff that kind of like to blur out. Yeah, I like the honesty of seeing everything that's gonna fit in that wreck. And you know, not just the I in all, you know, this beautiful dreaminess, which I love. But sometimes I want it to be to feel little more truth. When I when I take pictures, I think of two things. They think of truth. I want to catch truth. And then I think you better for because when I write and that is sort of my primary means of process a a love that I'm feeling for my kids that I write about them. But pictures can be poetry. They can mean something so much more it can incident. And I think with films. So I love that Instead of taking 50 pictures and I'm documenting, I'm started waiting a lot. You know, I wait and I watched and I try to be attentive to the moment. And then you know that one, that one month you decided to sweep in and broken that Oh, yeah, I was gonna I was gonna touch on that because what really beyond the beautiful images you take what really draws me in is the words that you put with it. I mean, there's times that, like, all cry and it's not like I wouldn't cry alone at your photo. But it's those words. And so I was always curious, like cause for me song lyrics poems will inspire the visions in my head And sometimes I go out and do photo shoots on. But I was wondering, like when you do you take the picture and then then the words Or is it like, How do you? Sometimes it all happens it once. I tell you, like about being a person, I am a person. I could cry like I people a lot, and I think a lot of us do. And I think sometimes we need a little space to do that. I get sort of washed. I feel like a wash love a lot like they're really my main source of inspiration. So I think that it all comes together at once. I don't I don't. Right. And then I think I'm gonna go take pictures based upon this essay that I've written. It all comes from the same place I think, with anyone who's creative, I think whether your writer, musician, photographer, a painter, I think we all have a sort of fire, this very special, unique way that we see that you know, every person has a history of your Everyone's eyes were different. Everyone's eyes are connected to their heart. Everyone's eyes connected their history. What we care about well, read the music. We love the movies. We watched a funny story about that. I am. My little boy is kind of He's kind of a natural poet. He just turned or and the word the way he describes the often Give me goose bumps I did not teaching. This is kind of like when he was a toddler, he would get very upset about things, and it would be hard to unlined him. And we watched tree of Life that Terrence Malick for the first time this kid sat through. I mean he was a baby. He wasn't even 1/2 and he sat through the whole thing. And when he would be upset, I would put it on. Sometimes you would ask for it. And he was just minutes front. And that is cure. And that is how held Children are too. They're so pure and they're so ready for things that we don't think the ready for Sometimes. Sometimes they were so ready for truth, and they give us so much truth if we're ready to listen to it. Kids can mean that. They're awful actors, you know. They don't There people were and how they present themselves, the world for them, it's just being it's not that there's no filter. So I think I think you know, when you're taking pictures of kids, you have to be So where that and not think this is my formula for kids. But here's this kid. I wouldn't see what they're showing me. I would get to know that. Listen. Yeah, I'm sorry. Sorry. No, I was gonna say that was something I know. We've talked before. You brought up a word that I had never really heard used. When you talk about shoulders photography, and you were talking about their respect and the compassion you have for your subject. And you never really hear people say that they respect kids. And it was it was so impactful to me because I was like, Oh, my gosh, exactly. That's like, that's what it is, having a respect for who they are and allowing that to, like, come through so kind of explain maybe how you, like, let that be and let that floater in your photo session cause you also captured in the moment, so well, yeah, but yeah, well, first of all, if I'm gonna I'm gonna take your picture. You're probably gonna know me first a little bit and I'm gonna let my guard down. And I want everyone if whether whether I'm taking someone's picture not I want everyone to feel comfortable around me because that's a hard being. It's really a vulnerable thing to be in this world. And it's really a vulnerable thing to be in this world with someone's camera. You know, even kids feel like that. I'm like a very insides kind of person. I don't know care. I spent so many years caring, not what this looks like. This is my house and my face and my body. I feel like I really much better when I'm into into what's going on inside. And so I try to see that other people and I try to let them know that I see that. So ask the question. Listen to the answer, you explain. You don't have a formula of script with anyone. There are very many rules. You know, people. You have to be open and patient and watchful apart from them. We just had our pictures taken a couple days ago. My eyes. Only Berkowitz's this really fantastic documentary shooter filled photographer. He shoots mostly weddings and kids by the mind. He was with us in the boarding until 11 o'clock at night. Ah, what's a committed photographer? It was. I was so, so much is before he came and he came and you showed up as a human being and I showed up is a human being, and we talked and my kids stock related. And then when the camera came out, I really got scared. So I think there's a really I mean, I think beautiful people are able to trends like like that into their work. So I think you know some of the wonderful bodies that people have issues with things. You bring that with you. When you when you get your camera and you put your camera down to I think a lot of the photographers waiting, um, waiting and watching. And you can have any when I take a picture of my kids and my daughter and we have a really special connection in life. And if I'm taking your portrait, we will talk and talk and talk and we'll laugh And I'm saying, Look at me and then but it's just that last look she doesn't know as a lens. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Geez, Mom And I think, you know, with other kids, I think they see someone else. I think it's really easy for me to be a person first, and I think we all deserve that. I know that it feels uncomfortable for a lot of people. It should be easy. And, uh, yeah, you never know what someone's story is, how hard is in their life in that moment, even when someone that is a perfect I always leave space for surprising people death and hardship and everything. So I'm always looking at people so maybe were complicated than they are. No, but I like you. Oh, you know the benefit of the doubt and try to see the US that they are. Yeah, I think you do that beautifully. And one way that I really connected with you is not It's not just through you, but the fact you brought all of these other photographers on board to do your motherhood with a camera. And you've gotten like you said, you're tapping into all the human in all of these other photographers. Do you want, like, share a little bit about that project like it's just amazingly gorgeous? Yeah, I think I think it started because And I heard the talent of what you were talking about. Social media and, oh, what can it get? Tricky business like you? I just am myself. And I can't. I think of a lot lighter in person than I am when I write, because they've been through a lot of layers, you to come out and it's easier for those unraveling and coil with words then in conversation. But I think I was getting the sense that so many people I was getting to know had so much war on pictures again. Um and I I love the process. Cathartic feeling of writing and sharing with people. It's like the ultimate form of connection. So I just thought, What a wonderful feeling for people to come together, feel state and share what they want to share. You don't have to spill your guts, but you can. I say. It's like I'm throwing a dinner party and just bring a dish. So that's a great sure Something that's easy. Take 10 minutes to write something, but I know that it's gonna feel good when you do it and that you're gonna I feel like you just made 12 13 14 15 friends on. But I think people have felt that way, like they really like. They're like they were almost doesn't present, and I salute by where official Sorry I was saint. Where can people find it just because so what? It basically I guess we didn't explain what it was, but you invite how maney at a time, like 10 photographers, because I'm not really like a dollar. I think e 10 15. It's just certain people come to mind and some people ask and I'll say, Okay, it's a little It would be too much for me to accept submissions, but I try and make it very egalitarian and anti clip because there's a lot of self selecting that goes on in this business. Yeah, I really like to stay away from that. I want to give different voices and perspectives a chance. So So, guys. So I invite people to share one picture, and it works on a topic that everyone else is writing about. And it ends up being this really beautiful collective photo essay that that that really unites, I think, and the feedback I got from it has been great. So I feel like I'm sort of put the editor. I make sure fully still that todo I turned my inside that, you know, inside out as much as I can. And it's something that was really hard for me and it in a lot. A lot of my life. I been through some tough things and I kept secrets and I just feel like the warrior show all those takes, the stronger you feel and the where you connect those next to your art. The more authentic feel and everyone's a combination of dark and light and pictures are more than just lighten lines. Pictures me are fielding. It's about showing what something felt like. Not just what it looks like. The way felt. I know it doesn't say it's funny when you're saying it makes you feel more connected to yourself. But even being the viewer of your images, when you put those words and like I felt connected to you like you were voicing things that I was like Yeah, that's where I have been or Yeah, that's how I feel. So I think at the same token it makes you more available to everyone else as well. Yeah, I think it's just it's sort of like a normal I want. I want to feel like if I share something, it's hard or tough. I've written about things that are that most a lot of people wouldn't want to talk about. But I feel like if someone reads that they feel normal, they feel normalized because I shared it. That's a really great thing and usually you know, I share things. You're kind of universal things, Dio I mean, I think we're all made of the same starts up. You know, there's so much we have in commenting over so different. So yeah, it's Yeah, it comes together, just come together. It's just kind of the truth. We'll have our little patch of truth that way lived through, and then that's kind of the best thing. Have the offer. You know, I just love, like even talking to you. Like I see your images, like in how you talk and how your images look like. I see that connection and it just, you know, it's just a really beautiful thing. And yeah, I'm so excited to Do we have any questions? We sure do. Perfect timing. Amy, Thanks for joining us today. We really appreciate it waving. Hey, so, uh, folks are really intrigued about film. Are you scamming the film? Send it out. You send it out. E o. I would really like to develop in my house, but our house right now, the kids and I live in a 500 square foot part of our house. The rest of the under construction, it's just it's not beautiful right now, but I love to learn Can you reiterate the camera that you're using? I used on Tax 645 which is a medium format camera. If the negatives are larger detail, it's it's finer it sometimes sometimes, you know, picture in a media important Kemmerich. Little, slight things, looking real life. So that is that the draw for me about that? It almost looks like just touch the imminent You're gonna hold out your hand like a memory that you can hold. So I love that. And then I also use a like M two. That's 35 millimeter. It's a really old camp. Rather's no battery. There's it's just you crank everything. It's It makes hardly a sound When you push the shutter, it feels like you're not giving Pete from your life like I'm in life. And I just took a picture and it felt like magic and see it. It's amazing that it works. You know, I was still kind of enamored with the camera and get used to, but so those are the two that I use. She mentioned that went food. What was the Fuji that you mentioned to for a good like stepping stone to fill in? I used to shoot combination digital. So Nikon Okay, I thought there was when you said was a stepping stone. No, no, that 100 I think Iss I mean, if you even like getting an old 35 millimeter night hunt after you have something manual focus. I mean, it's really very simple. You just have to get used to different film stocks. And how does folks that still have a lot of lead A to you could mess up a lot? You can met up an impulse fantastic, especially with certain kinds of film black and white. It's a little trickier, but there's certain rules just digital that you learn. And then we started using them and then, you know, works great. Hey, could you guys reiterate the documentary filmmaker that we talked about earlier? The documentary photographer The Tree of Life one. No took the picture. Your prizes Pictures are pictures of Zall me. Berkowitz is his name. Family for a great family. He's just and he makes me feel great. I mean, we didn't we were not fancy. We're not dressed up. We were not opposed at all. It's just like seeing your truth at the moment which every photographer has a different side, and I think it's really need to see to see your families for a lot of different people. I that's really get that, you know, get but is just It's very true. Wonderful, wonderful. Thank you Amy's. Thank you so much for joining us today. Folks confined you at a beautiful life photo dot com to see more of your work and to contact into contact you as well. So thank you for really having a great, engaging conversation this morning. So thank you so much.