# 9 - Molly Jarboe - April 20, 2017 - Warrenton, Virginia
Tuesday, April 25, 2017
So why did I photograph Molly in front of a water tower in Warrenton, Virginia? Well.. there is a story.
In late January 2017, I paid a visit to Warrenton - mainly out of curiosity and boredom. I was looking for a location to go photograph. Warrenton was a town unfamiliar to me despite living in the DC area for almost 24 years. Walking around the town that day a few things visually stood out, a large US flag attached to the side of a building and a looming and HUGE water tower placed smack dab in the middle of a historic districted town. The tower stands at least 100 feet tall and rests on eight legs - it also serves double duty as a cell phone tower. The water tower looms large in the town of Warrenton. It was those odd qualities mixed with historic charm that I was attracted to photographing when I visited the town.
When I finished photographing Warrenton I posted a few photos up to Instagram and noticed that someone just the day before had also made several photos of the tower and many of the same things I had photographed, including the US flag attached to the brick wall. This other person was not just making snapshots. These were interesting, thoughtful and studied images, these photos were made by someone who had studied art - studied landscape photography. I could immediately see a sophisticated vision. I started to follow this person on Instagram. Molly Jarboe (tender_ardour on Instagram) created a whole series of images of the water tower. We exchanged messages on Instagram began following and commenting on each other's photography.
Molly lives in Buffalo, New York but her work requires that she travels often. In fact, she was traveling for work when she visited Warrenton. She mentioned that she would be back in town and we met for the first time to photograph for this project. So there is the answer and the explanation to connection to the water tower and why I photographed Molly near it for many of the photos.
For this photo shoot we had about an hour or so to make the ten photos on the single roll of 120 format film. No use of Polaroid - no prechecking with a digital camera.. just compose the shot, light it, meter, and expose. The light was clear and almost directly overhead, in other words.. harsh. I tended to want to place Molly in the shade of buildings, trees and in one case a shadow of utility pole and use my battery powered strobe light to illuminate her. Once again, I was met with some technical difficulties with the camera. I double exposed a frame - still not entirely sure why but I think the back wasn't in the correct postion when the winder tried to advance the exposure. One thing is for sure - shooting film will keep a photographer on their toes. There really is very little room for error.
As a departure, I did a Photoshop treatment to one of the images (horrors!). Remember I love digital photography, one of the reasons I'm going back to shoot film is to see if I can figure out what all the fuss is about folks going back and shooting film these days. So far I haven't completely figured out why there seems to be a rush back to analog photography in some venues.
I think Molly and I have two slightly different views about the tower in Warrenton. I see the tower as a bit of an eyesore in its particular location. I have visual fantasies of sorts of seeing it being doomed by nature. In my imaginiation the tower get destroyed by a hurricane or tornado in a violent storm. Molly mentioned that it reminded her of a spaceship that landed in the middle of town. She probaly has other visual ideas about the tower than I do.
Molly grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, she received a Bachelor of Fine Art from the Kansas City Art Institute and a Master of Fine Art from the University at Buffalo. Visit her website here and her blog here.
In late January 2017, I paid a visit to Warrenton - mainly out of curiosity and boredom. I was looking for a location to go photograph. Warrenton was a town unfamiliar to me despite living in the DC area for almost 24 years. Walking around the town that day a few things visually stood out, a large US flag attached to the side of a building and a looming and HUGE water tower placed smack dab in the middle of a historic districted town. The tower stands at least 100 feet tall and rests on eight legs - it also serves double duty as a cell phone tower. The water tower looms large in the town of Warrenton. It was those odd qualities mixed with historic charm that I was attracted to photographing when I visited the town.
When I finished photographing Warrenton I posted a few photos up to Instagram and noticed that someone just the day before had also made several photos of the tower and many of the same things I had photographed, including the US flag attached to the brick wall. This other person was not just making snapshots. These were interesting, thoughtful and studied images, these photos were made by someone who had studied art - studied landscape photography. I could immediately see a sophisticated vision. I started to follow this person on Instagram. Molly Jarboe (tender_ardour on Instagram) created a whole series of images of the water tower. We exchanged messages on Instagram began following and commenting on each other's photography.
Molly lives in Buffalo, New York but her work requires that she travels often. In fact, she was traveling for work when she visited Warrenton. She mentioned that she would be back in town and we met for the first time to photograph for this project. So there is the answer and the explanation to connection to the water tower and why I photographed Molly near it for many of the photos.
For this photo shoot we had about an hour or so to make the ten photos on the single roll of 120 format film. No use of Polaroid - no prechecking with a digital camera.. just compose the shot, light it, meter, and expose. The light was clear and almost directly overhead, in other words.. harsh. I tended to want to place Molly in the shade of buildings, trees and in one case a shadow of utility pole and use my battery powered strobe light to illuminate her. Once again, I was met with some technical difficulties with the camera. I double exposed a frame - still not entirely sure why but I think the back wasn't in the correct postion when the winder tried to advance the exposure. One thing is for sure - shooting film will keep a photographer on their toes. There really is very little room for error.
As a departure, I did a Photoshop treatment to one of the images (horrors!). Remember I love digital photography, one of the reasons I'm going back to shoot film is to see if I can figure out what all the fuss is about folks going back and shooting film these days. So far I haven't completely figured out why there seems to be a rush back to analog photography in some venues.
I think Molly and I have two slightly different views about the tower in Warrenton. I see the tower as a bit of an eyesore in its particular location. I have visual fantasies of sorts of seeing it being doomed by nature. In my imaginiation the tower get destroyed by a hurricane or tornado in a violent storm. Molly mentioned that it reminded her of a spaceship that landed in the middle of town. She probaly has other visual ideas about the tower than I do.
Molly grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, she received a Bachelor of Fine Art from the Kansas City Art Institute and a Master of Fine Art from the University at Buffalo. Visit her website here and her blog here.
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