Why I love Instagram

I taught art to high schoolers for a few billion years after graduating college, and my favorite days were always the days we talked about the Impressionists. There are lots of reasons I love Impressionism (painting outside? quelle horreur!), but without going into an art history lesson, one of the things that has always resonated with me is that they believed art didn’t have to be about great moments in history, or Greek gods, or Important Stuff in general: it could be about everyday life and normal people. Elevating everyday life to art. Yes!

You might see where I’m going with this. I’m a big fan of creating beautiful MOMENTS and trying to be creative every day, and things like Instagram really encourage that. Not everyone uses Instagram in this way obviously (that’s ok, too--keep the selfies coming!), but there are so many people doing beautiful, amazing, small, quiet, artful things with this little app. Encouraging everyone, "artist" or no, to do something creative in their every day lives is such a healthy thing, and I am a huge fan. 

And lastly, I feel like it can be easy to get a bit snobbish about cameras, but who was it that said the best camera is the one you have with you? I think it was Chase Jarvis. Well, in any case, they were right in my book. 

I’d love for us to be Instagram pals, you can check out my feed and follow me here: http://www.instagram.com/joanna_tillman

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Florence on film | Baltimore Film Photographer

I usually don't take a lot of landscape photographs but Florence was one of those "How can I NOT?!" places. The swirling skies, the hills & trees, the orange-roofed architecture... Justin and I loved every moment of being in that beautiful old city. We stayed in an amazingly clean and well-run hostel right next to the Arno river, and fell asleep every night with the windows open, listening to musicians with accordions playing traditional Italian songs at the restaurant across the street. Sigh.

Anyway, it's a beautiful place and I was glad I had my film camera with me. All of these photographs were taken with my little Nikon F100 35mm on Kodak Portra film (not really the ideal film choice for landscape, but it turned out just fine). They were developed by Richard Photo Lab so beautifully that I didn't even have to edit them (yes!), so enjoy these views just as I saw them through the lens.

 

PS Here's what I've been listening to lately:

Horses! | Annapolis Family Photography

There are people that are good a giving gifts and then there are people that are GOOD at giving gifts, and Dana is one of the latter. :) She had the idea of gifting a family photoshoot to her dad for Father's Day, so one beautiful bright Saturday we all gathered together at the barn and took pictures of Dana with her adorable niece and nephew... and Midnight.

Let's talk about Midnight, the sweetest soul of a horse I've ever known. Midnight was a Christmas gift to Dana many years ago from her parents, so I can't even begin to explain what a treasured part of the family he is and how much we all love him. I mean, seriously, I feel so honored to have been asked to take these pictures. I really think family photography (and maybe photography in general) is at its best when preserving these sincere, beautiful moments.

 

 

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Behind the scenes

One thing that I wish people knew about photography is how FUN photo shoots are. Even when it's below 50 degrees or above 90 degrees (as was the case in the following sessions), as long as you're working with the right people it really is a wonderful experience.

I mean...is there anything more energizing than doing what you love?

I wanted to share some "behind the scenes" photos from two model shoots I've done recently. Thanks so much to Bethany and Becca for allowing me to share these images with you!

Click below to take a peek.....

Studio day | Abby | Baltimore model portfolio photography

There are few things more important in life (and business) than surrounding yourself with good people. This photoshoot was a great example of that truth. So much effort and planning goes into these days--luckily it’s the FUN kind of planning (secret group Pinterest boards & Skype calls, anyone?), but all of that ceases to be fun if the people you are working with are the wet-blanket type. Or the I-can’t-trust/rely-on-you type. Or the I-don’t-contribute type. OR the I-don’t-laugh-at-your-silly-jokes type...those are the worst. ;) 

The girls I worked with on this day were patient, kept a positive attitude even when our makeup artist didn’t show up and we had to improvise, didn’t complain about the heat in our makeshift studio, and were just ON and contributing constantly. I definitely don’t take that for granted. I’m thankful that the day didn’t collapse when a key component of our plan fell through, because it really could have, you know? And the reason it didn’t collapse is because I was working with the right people. So what ended up happening was true teamwork, and we got these lovely photos to boot. 

We used all reflected ambient/natural light for these photos. And isn't Abby lovely? Enjoy!

Assistance by Bethany Conner and Becca Bastian

Sunrise shoot | Annapolis portrait photography

Sometimes I have pictures in my head that take months to actually turn into real photographs. This was one of those times. I had been wanting to do an early sun-drenched shoot on the beach for a while, but my potential models usually gracefully backed out when they heard the word "sunrise". I can't blame them, really, because honestly who likes getting up before the sun?

Enter Savannah. She was not only willing but EXCITED to work on this project, so after some planning we met very early on a freezing Saturday morning, joined by my amazing assistants Bethany and Morgan, and the photos below are the result.

I shot 95% of this on film, and am so glad that I did. The photos look organic and soft and I just love them. Thanks for taking a look!

 

Model: Savannah Tate

Assistants: Bethany Conner, Morgan Taylor

Camera: Nikon F100

Film: Kodak Portra 160, 400

Lab: Richard Photo Lab

My week(s) on Instagram

Are you on Instagram? It's probably my favorite social media outlet, which isn't surprising anybody since it's a photosharing app. I appreciate the simplicity of it, and how it encourages people to be visually creative everyday. Who is it that said the best camera is the one you have with you? Well, I guess smartphones can be included in that! I'll be posting some of my Instagram photos on here from time to time. If you're an Instagrammer, let's be friends! Follow me @jretillman



1. My morning ritual: coffee/tea and my journal  2. Flowers blowing in the wind on an evening walk
3. My dog getting tangling up his leash on a hike  4. Beautiful illustrations from this book: my copy is from the 1930s  5. I love giving my clients PRINTS :)   6-8. On a 7 mile hike last weekend
9-10: It's been raining all week off and on, took a rainy walk and saw some pretty things