In an age where the phrase 'digital self portrait' instantly makes you think of Facebook, young photographers have a lot to compete with. Think about it, who do you know who doesn't have a camera and the ability to upload to the internet? It's 2011, and everyone is a photographer. With so much competition, you've got to do everything bigger and better and Rebekah Domingo does exactly that. She hails from British Columbia and is wise beyond her years. Rebekah specializes in powerful self portraits and is a force to be reckoned with.
Scientifically, photography is the relationship between light and time. Rebekah is one of the few portrait photographers I've seen who really breaks it down to the bare essentials and she does so in a very distinguished, signature way. She clearly isn't working with light, she's making the light work for her. You can see this specifically in many of her images where things like dust, smoke or steam have almost become the subject of the photograph due in no small part to her obvious understanding of properties of light. We're not talking about studio lights or a controlled environment, either. We're talking about that real, raw sunlight that is sparse this time of year in British Columbia. To say that the natural sunlight is being taken advantage of by Rebekah Domingo is an understatement by far.
Rebekah first showed up on my artist radar when she wowed the world of photography with her '365' project. If you haven't heard of this trend before, it's pretty simple: the photographer commits to taking and posting one photograph every day for the course of the year. I've seen it done before, and maybe you have too. The beauty of it is that with every fresh facing giving it a go, new ideas unfold daily. Although it's surely a trend, it might not ever be over-done. Rebekah Domingo, in my eyes, has blown every other shot at this project out of the water with her vivid realness and boldly crafty images.
Capturing a signature color scheme of soft blues and golds, Rebekah casts a hazy glow on the reality of life. While her images are calming and serene, they still have a dramatic heaviness to them because of her use of space. They remind me of stills from a movie about a normal teenager, although it certainly helps that Rebekah Domingo is an exceptionally and naturally gorgeous human being. She's often catching images of herself doing things that are, well, normal. Things like brushing your teeth have now become glamorous because of Rebekah Domingo. Can you do that gracefully? Because she sure can.
A photography professor once told me that a good image tells a story, but a great image makes you wonder the story behind it. All cheesiness aside, Rebekah's photographs provoke a lot of questions for me. Her portraits don't look posed at all, they appear to look like she's halfway through doing something. Her photographs don't just make you wonder where she's about to go, they make you want to go with her. To say the least, she leaves a little something to the imagination and consistently shows her sense of humor by doing so.
A quick interview with Rebekah...
Brynn Bear: How do you juggle being an artist and a normal kid?
Rebekah Domingo: I read this question aloud to my sister and she said, "You don't. You just are." That makes sense, I guess. Most normal kids are artists these days; art's what we talk about and it's what we do. I find that I do have to set aside time if I have an idea for a photo and want to execute it well. I make sure to take advantage of natural light, seeing as how that's all I use.
BB: How did you get started?
RD: I got started in Summer 2008 when my very good friend Stephanie let me use her SLR. The sound of the shutter was the most brilliant thing I'd ever heard or felt. That Summer she taught me everything I know about exposure and f-stops, I was pretty much hooked. I got my camera beginning of 2009 and started a 365 project the first day I bought it.
BB: Where do you call home?
RD: British Columbia, Canada.
BB: How is the weather today?
RD: Cold and wet, very BC weather.
BB: Do you feel like your surroundings influence you as an artist?
RD: Oh definitely. Like most people in this area, I take advantage of all the sunshine we get. All my photos are taken using natural sunlight. The greenish, goldish colors I use to edit are also true to where I live. I want to take more shots on city buses and in old buildings and diners in my town.
BB: What every day things inspire you?
RD: The way sunlight illuminates objects, stacks of books that look like they're about to fall over, the way blankets rumple on my bed when I've just gotten up, steaming mugs of coffee and tea, condensation, I could go on.
BB: It's 2011 and every kid and their mother can be a 'photographer' with their phones or crappy point-and-shoot cameras these days. Do you think this is a good or bad thing?
RD: Who am I to say? It used to annoy me a bit, but I can't take myself or my art too seriously. Some people, me included, feel like they have to work at their art over the years to achieve the style or quality they want. But that's not necessary, some people just want to take cool pictures. I say go for it, I want to take cool pictures too!
BB: Tell us about your 365 and 52 Weeks projects!
RD: My 365 project started the day I bought my camera, and I vowed to take one photo a day for an entire year. I wanted to be good at taking pictures as soon as possible, and I knew that taking a photo a day for a whole year would help me do that. That year I decided to basically live off my art. I spent all my money on the camera so I wasn't buying a ton of clothes, and during this time I was dealing with a lot of emotional problems so 365 was all I did. Part way through my 365, my only lens broke. I was so sure it was a sign from God that I needed to stop. That taking self portraits and loving it so much was a problem. But a friend suggested that I sell prints of my 365 and other stuff to raise money for a new lens. I didn't think it would work and I reluctantly put up an album on facebook with prices. In less than two weeks I had raised enough for a brand new (much better) lens. It was amazing to see how much my family and friends supported me, and as soon as I got the new lens I jumped back into my project and finished it.
52 week project was one I started back in October, because I was disappointed with my photos. I initially wanted to do a 365 to document my senior year in high school, but with school and everything that comes with being in senior year I knew that a 365 would be too much. So I started my 52 week project and I've been loving it. It's much different from my 365, it's all self portraits this time.
BB: What tips would you give another photographer attempting projects like these?
RD: 've had so many friends start a 365 project after me, I usually give them these tips:
1.Don't be afraid to include other people in your photos.
2.Take your camera everywhere.
3.Post your photos somewhere like Flickr or Tumblr (instead of or additional to Facebook), where you can meet up with other artists and get inspiration. Also, by posting it people can keep you accountable to your uploads and such.
4. Upload photos in an organized fashion and not too often. People get more excited to view 5 of your photos as oppose to 2 or 3 at a time.
5. Pick a day that you will upload (Mine is Wednesday afternoon because I have nothing going on on the day)
6. Add a twist every once in a while. Like maybe for one month have a song for every photo, or all black and white. Keeps things interesting.
7. Don't be afraid to take a break, or skip a day. It's supposed to be awesome and inspiring, not stressful.
8. Make it original, like maybe write little blurbs to accompany your photo. Like photo journalism. YEAH!
BB: Is it empowering to look at an image of yourself on the screen and go 'dang, that photo looks incredible. And that's ME!' ?
RD: Yeah, it's really empowering. I was just talking to two of my other photographer friends about emotion in photos, and how none of us feel emotion when we take the photo but the emotion comes when we see the finished product. It's really amazing to make a photo come together.
BB: What makes the hard work worth it?
RD: Hmm, it's not so much hard work as oppose to getting over awkwardness. It's all worth it when you see the finished product and you find someone who loves it as much as you do.
BB: Do your self portraits reflect your personality?
RD: I am an incredibly loud, quirky person. I love to play my purple ukulele. I spend a good amount of time watching interviews with my celebrity crush to find out if he's as funny or intelligent as I want him to be, and then spend too much time moping around if I find out he really isn't. I can't sit still for very long and I'm incredibly sarcastic all the time every day. But in my self portraits I appear to be very thoughtful and serene, that's a part of me I'm searching for. And I have hundreds of photos that are snapshots of that; loveliness isn't something I have that I'm capturing, it's something I'm working to achieve through my portraits.
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