Guest Judging at Snap Maven | Dallas Texas Documentary Photographer
I was asked to guest judge at Snap Maven, an awesome photography blog and collective, a few months ago. I was able to choose the theme for the week and hundreds of photographers chose photos that matched my theme.
I chose {faceless portraits}.
These photos seem to always end up as my favorites. There is mystery and beauty rolled all into an awesome shot. I used to toss these since I couldn’t see the kid’s FACE! Not anymore!
I was flooded with so many beautiful images. It was like my own personal Pinterest board of my favorite types of images!
These are my top 20. Scroll through and enjoy each image like I did.
This was my winner. Adriëlle Fotografie
Here is a copy of my interview as a judge.
1. Tell us about yourself…
Hi. My name is Jolyn Laney and I live in Richardson, TX which is about 25 minutes north of Dallas (an hour and a half during rush hour though). I’ve got 2 awesome boys who have the cutest relationship (we actually have an ongoing project documenting brothers called ‘The Two Brothers Project’ that we’d love to add more photographers to, let me know if you’d like to join). I’ve been married to my college CPA sweetheart for 10 years this August. I don’t sleep with socks on, I can eat M&Ms by the handful, and roller coasters are my happy place.
2. What ignited your passion for photography, and what fuels it now?
My interest started during my senior pictures though I always had my disposable camera with me on choir tour and on the last day of school every year. But my senior session was my first real photo session (aside from school photos and Kinkos family sessions) and it was very intriguing to see how they would move lights and adjust the camera and me to make the best photos. Then when I had my son, everything changed and I had to photograph EVERYTHING.
My kids keep changing!! What’s up with that?! So I need to continue to photograph them! And now I have expanded my talents to include other families.
3. What’s in your camera bag right now, what do use the most? the least?
I’ve got my trusty Canon 6D, a Tokina 11-16 2.8 that I used during my real estate photography stint that I like to pull out for a different look, a Canon 35mm, a Canon 85mm 1.8, and my nifty fifty that can’t auto focus anymore, but it’s still great for video.
I’ve always got my 35 on though.
4. What’s your dream project or shoot?
Right now, all I can think about is photographing the elderly couples in my neighborhood. I want to photograph their cute morning routines and their daily walks around the block arm in arm. Kind of like the love story in Disney and Pixar’s UP. I need to reach out to a few.
5. What is the biggest challenge you face as a photographer?
Comparing myself to others, 100%, which leads to one editing crisis after another. I need to see the beauty in everyone’s photos, INCLUDING my own!
6. If you had $500 to spend on photography...
How do you wish you could spend it?
Getting a fish eye lens!
How would you really spend it?
Probably buying a SpyderPRO5 to calibrate, and another hard drive.
7. Is there any one thing you wish someone had told you at the very beginning of your photography journey?
Find a photography buddy. Shoot together. Celebrate together. Get frustrated together. Push each other and praise each other. It makes all the difference.