Emily Blincoe
background & personal life
Emily Blincoe is a self-taught photographer born and raised in Austin, Texas. On the rare occasion that she's not on the run looking for her next inspiration, she currently resides in Nashville, Tennessee. Emily began teaching herself the ropes of digital & film photography after she discovered a darkroom in her childhood home. After the launch of the social media site instagram, Emily quickly began to gain popularity, even though she was only sharing her pictures for personal satisfaction. She now has over 400 thousand followers and her work has been featured in multiple articles including The Huffington Post, Buzzfeed, ABC News and the Wall Street Journal.
style
Looking through Emily's photos, I gathered that her style has to do with finding something unique in everyday objects and highlighting what makes it special. Sometimes altering nature into a pattern without taking away it's natural beauty. Her dog (Eleanor) is a featured subject in her photo and I think that it's fun to see how involved Eleanor is when it comes to Emily's photographic adventures. I don't think that Emily's pictures require interpretation, I just think that you need to keep an open mind and find beauty in the places & people that surround you. As Emily says, "we are all changing and growing and moving along, and a photo holds a place in time that can always be looked back upon".
philosophy
Unlike a majority of photographers, Emily's work does not include political messages or opinions. While those types on influential images can be intriguing, it's rare nowadays to see raw photographs, especially when it comes to nature. I think that it takes a lot of effort to simply appreciate aesthetic images rather than search for an ulterior motive or deeper meaning. When it comes to social media, Emily is not shy about sharing her opinions, but I appreciate the fact that she respects the art of simplistic photography. Emily said she found inspiration in the quote "i don't want to talk about the glass on your window, i want to talk about the view". I've never seen images quite like Emily's so I admire that she takes photos simply for the love of photography.
influences
When I was replicating Emily's images, I really tried to use her principles of simplicity. Even though the matches were hard to get just the way I wanted, they didn't have to be perfect. Making the pinecone layout didn't have to be the exact sam, it was just fun to try new things and see what I liked. Emily's images influenced me to step out of my comfort zone and keep things simple. It's okay to edit out some unwanted details, but you shouldn't over-edit to the point where it's hard to tell what the original image was (unless you're working with a surrealism effect). After doing this project, I am definitely more motivated to find more unique photographers that I like and draw inspiration from their work.
sources
Emily's FAQ
http://www.emilyblincoe.com/faq
Featured Articles
- https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/13/emily-blincoe_n_3745973.html?utm_hp_ref=arts
- https://mymodernmet.com/emily-blincoe-sugar-series/
- https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/19/texas-home-vacant-26-years_n_3948884.html
http://www.emilyblincoe.com/faq
Featured Articles
- https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/13/emily-blincoe_n_3745973.html?utm_hp_ref=arts
- https://mymodernmet.com/emily-blincoe-sugar-series/
- https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/19/texas-home-vacant-26-years_n_3948884.html
compare & contrast
I had a fun time recreating Emily's images, but I also encountered some complications. While doing the pinecone layout, I didn't have the variation in sizes of cones that Emily had so I wasn't able to redecorate her exact layout. I tried to incorporate the pine needles more and I am happy with the results. I wish the shadows weren't so defined because I feel that they take away from the color of the pinecones. Recreating the matches images was definitely harder than I had anticipated. Burning them so they lined up evenly was very time consuming and it took multiple tries until I was satisfied with the results. I love the lighting that Emily used and I was hoping that my picture would come out similar so you could really see how burned the matches were, but I was very conscious about not using flash and creating a glare. I love photographing my dog and I was excited when I found Emily's pictures featuring her dog in costume. I think it's cool that Emily' focal point is Eleanor's eyes, but my dog has a very smushed face so it was hard to dial in the focus perfectly. When I altered the image sizes in photoshop, they lost some of their original resolution which was frustrating to me, but I was still able to compare the photos and learn from the experience.
I really enjoyed replicating Emily's photos. It was an overcast day, so it was hard to get the perfect lighting without the professional tools that she possesses. My favorite image to copy was the pinecone layout. I've never played around with nature for a photo before and it was fun to try something new. Similar to Emily, I love using my dog in photos and I was really excited when I found one of her old halloween costumes. The matches image was the hardest to replicate. I didn't realize how necessary exact precision was in getting the matches to burn in the way I desired. The more I burned the matches too, the harder it was to make sure they didn't fall apart. I ended up using tweezers to transport them which worked much better that trying to balance them on my hand.