Responses.
My response to someone who was wondering whether it was a good decision to pursue photography as a career:
I am right with you onwedding and normal portraiture as a career. I can see myself just going insane from work like that.
Photography for me is such a passion and I want to know everything I can about it. I feel that hunger that I need to learn and need to make beautiful images to the point where I don’t know what I would do if I wasn’t a photographer for the rest of my life. A while back I was questioning myself as to whether I really should step in the direction of art school and things like that because who knows where that will take you. I personally will not be majoring in photography, merely because the school I’ll mostlikely be attending does not offer majors. However, if I were to be accepted to a different school that did offer majors, I would definitely be a photography major.
My reasoning is this: I recently took a black and white film class where we developed our photos and made our prints, etc. I’m not going to lie, I didn’t particularly care for this sort of photography. I found it too risky and time consuming compared to digital. However, my skills in photography greatly increased because of this class. Because on a roll of film you only have 36 pictures at the most, you have to be extremely cautious as to what you choose to photograph. Because of that, I became much more aware of the photos I was taking, and overall my skills greatly improved. But just because you’re in a class where they are telling you what to take a photo of doesn’t mean that you’re going to lose yourself in that class. It may give you talents that could be useful later in life. For example, you said something in a comment about landscapes. I myself hate taking landscape photos, but they are very commercial and sell extremely well, so there’s money to be made. Even though landscapes may be totally off your radar, they may help you too, and getting the knowledge on all aspects of photography will make you a better photographer.
Help! :)
Hello everyone! I’m hoping that everyone I am emailing this to can give me a hand and forward this to your friends. I am trying to win a contest on brickfish.com where you may enter a photo and then based on the votes of the public the top 150 entries will be viewed by a group of judges. The grand prize is a $600 scholarship, which I can definitely use for art school (which is crazy expensive). There’s also a prize for most viral entry, so send it to as many people as you can! 
If you are recieving this email from a friend and have no idea what my work looks like, here is a link: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Emily-Gitelman-Photography/447131955202?ref=ts
Here is the link to the photo for voting. http://www.brickfish.com/Pages/PhotosAlbums/PhotoView.aspx?qsi=35018891
You may vote once a day. I’m really hoping you can all help me out!
Thank you so much.
who am I/npd
National Portfolio Day is on Saturday. I am bringing my portfolio to Cornish College of the Arts to be reviewed by all the colleges I want to go to.
I don’t know if you can understand the stress and panic I’m feeling right now. I know that it’s only a review. It’s not like the colleges are deciding they want me right now. But I can’t keep myself from thinking that this is my only chance to get out there. Or maybe if it’s not my only chance, it’s a chance to show these colleges that I’m good and that I deserve to go to their schools. I’m terrified that I’ll get there and the colleges will just tell me to go home because I’m not even good enough to get into fucking art school.
Anyway. My portfolio is 18 images put together. Here is the link if you’d like to see. http://emilygitelman.carbonmade.com/projects/2524282
I’m sort of worried about getting to the review and not having any idea about what to say. I’m concerned they’re going to ask me things like why I do photography, or why I choose to photograph what I do. Or they might even ask who I am as an artist.
And that’s the problem.
I. Don’t. Know.
It’s a scary, scary feeling. I don’t know who I am as an artist. I know that I as a person am an artist. But if I need to get more specific…I can’t. I can get down to photographer.
Truly I feel that my work isn’t fully expressing who I am or what I am about. But the problem is that I don’t know the answers to who I am and what I’m about.
What am I supposed to tell them when they ask? “I don’t know?”
That’s such a lame answer. It makes me feel lazy. If I only just thought about it a little more then maybe I’d know. But I think about it all the time and I can’t come to a conclusion.
I’m going to try writing an artist’s statement.
But how do you write without words?
relaxing
I don’t know why, but the song I’m listening to has put me in a writing mood. I was also just reading a mini-reflection I wrote on visiting the Seattle Art Museum a few weeks ago, and I think it was a pretty read-able piece of writing. So, Friday was my ankle surgery. I had one of the 2 pins removed, which will hopefully make all my pain disappear. That would be a welcome relief. The recovery from this surgery has been lightyears better than the last one. As a comparison, I slept for about 4 days when recovering from the last one, and for this one I had surgery Friday afternoon and went to a barbeque Saturday night. Lightyears ahead, I tell you. I’ll hopefully be walking and driving again by late this week. Speaking of driving, I got my license! Very exciting stuff. I’m sitting here in my new glasses, feeling very creative. I always feel more creative in glasses. Especially new glasses. I come up with lots of cool ideas and concepts when I have glasses on for some reason. Maybe new glasses have new creative energy in them. Hm. Anyway, I’m hoping that I’ll use the next month or so that I don’t have school to take my algebra course through BYU and since that’ll only be about an hour a day, I can hopefully start working on some of my photoshoot ideas, and maybe start work on the dresses I’ve been dreaming about making. Oh, so my trip to Chicago was obviously successful, from my last journal. It was such a self-confidence boost to know that I could get into the school of my choice with my current portfolio. I mean really, if I can get in at this point can you imagine what I could be in two years? I’m excited to see how my art grows, and how I grow. I had a really awesome time with my aunt and uncle, too. I love my auntie so much, and she’s just the best. I’m in love with Chicago. It’s a city that just takes my breath away. I don’t think I could love it if it was completely landlocked, but it has Lake Michigan, so that’s fantastic. I love that lake with all my heart. And the city is so…vivacious. Seattle is very laid back and relaxed. I think that Chicago will be a great place to live for a few years. Maybe I’ll end up there permanently, but we’ll see. I’ve got years and years before I really need to think about that. I would really like to do some cooking. I love cooking and I love baking. I would really like to throw a dinner party, because I love sitting around with family and friends and eating. I would want to have a really big dinner party, with lots of people and lots of food and music and stories and fun. It’s kind of hard to do that with teenagers, though. Maybe in a few years. I would really like a chicken pot pie right now. Mmm… I’ve been watching a lot of makeup videos because I’m trying to find ways to make my photos better. I don’t know how to do it. I figure I’m taking a step in the right direction with makeup, hair and wardrobe, but I’m also working hard to make my editing skills better. I’m doing senior portraits now. I’m doing them for pay, too! How exciting. I’m charging something like $75 sitting fee, $5-10 per edited photo. Time is money. Anyway. Corrine Bailey Rae’s voice is beautiful. I can’t stop listening to her and Adele and people like that. I’m also listening to the Beatles non-stop (as usual), but I’m sooo excited for Beatles Rockband! It’s going to be sooo good! So, I’m off. Thanks for reading this if you read to the end.
I’ve just had the best weekend of my life. I went on a trip with two of my best, best friends and had such an amazing time. We were just completely who we are during this trip. There was no covering anything up for the benefit of people who don’t truely matter. There was just relaxation and good conversation.
It’s so hot here in Seattle. It’s supposed to go up to 100 degrees today. Yesterday I went to the Seattle Art Museum with my mother. We had a very nice time shmying around the museum like we usually do, but we went and saw this new exhibit called Target Practice. They were all pieces that focused on the unconventional use of everyday items to create art. 2 pieces that really caught my attention were Yoko Ono’s pieces. One of them was called “Painting to be Stepped On”, I believe, and it was a very cool idea. My mom and I went and stepped on it. It sort of felt wrong, to step on a piece of art, but that’s exactly what was wanted. The second piece by Yoko Ono was called “Painting to Hammer a Nail” and it was originally like this: 
You’re supposed to take a nail and add onto the piece.
But the people in Seattle took it upon themselves to expand the picture:
The piece is ever growing, and it felt like it was breathing and living and growing on its own. I love Seattle. My mother the mosaicist wrote on a piece of paper “Life is Art” and her daughter the photographer wrote “Art is Life”. They’re now hanging in the middle of the collage, in the middle of the art piece. I feel fantastic having added to the growth of something. It’s so cool.
We also went to a few other exhibits. An exhibit by an artist named Titus Kaphar was small, but beautiful and interesting. The colors he used were rich and enticing, and the paintings were prime examples of storytelling through art. He takes historical paintings, copies them and then cuts pieces out to change the feeling of the photo. One in particular that struck me was this:
The women in the painting are all African-American, but with lighter skin. When the father and mother (the one in the blue) realized that their youngest daughter could have a better life since she could pass for European due to her light skin, they “cut her out of the picture” and sent her away. Here’s his website: http://tituskaphar.blogspot.com/
I had never heard of a particular photographer, Imogen Cunningham, but her work was exquisite. She was one of the first women to create a standing image as a photographer. I feel like she’s one of those women that I should really get to learn about. Her photos are just stunning to me. Looking at them makes me want to use film so much. The feeling is rich and deep and I feel like with film you get a completely more moody product than when using digital. Haha, discovering Imogen Cunningham has made me feel like this:
WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE!?
Vallarta
Last week I was in Vallarta with my family. I had a really nice time, and suffered a horrible sunburn on my back. It’s really gross, but I guess that’s the price you pay for not applying sunscreen every ten minutes. It was super humid and hot there, but I tanned nicely. =) I was done being pale for a while. So, I’m home for the month, with a few trips in between. I’m going to go camping with some friends at the end of the month, and my dad and I are going to go for a trip to Vancouver for a weekend as a birthday present.
But my most exciting trip will be going to Chicago by myself for a week. I’m staying with my aunt and uncle, but I’ll be alone for a lot of the time since they have to work. I’ll go to lots of museums and go shopping and bring my camera everywhere. Life without my camera would be sad. But I think I would like a new one, just because the screen is so small on mine. I always think that a picture is great and then I put it on my computer and it’s blurry. It’s really frustrating, because if I’d known it was blurry, I would have taken another photo.
Anyway. I have lots of photoshoots in mind for the summer. Lots. With Amy and Ava and Brady and Ariel and Alex and Amanda and Zoe and so many people. It makes me happy that I have friends who are willing to jump in front of the camera for me. Making art with friends is fun.
I would post more photos on here, but I really don’t like the uploader. =( I wish I could upload in bulk and then move them around as I please. Oh well. I’ll link to places for you to see photos, probably.
My deviantart for example: weepingstars.deviantart.com
Even though I just posted…
I’m going to post some photos. I had a small shoot with Amanda the other day. =)
babies
Hello everyone (or no one, considering no one reads this, but that’s okay). I just arrived home from babysitting some kids down the street. They were fun. So here I am just thinking about all the photoshoots I’m dying to do. I feel torn right now because I have so many ideas, but I can’t tell if I’m just getting them from other people unconciously. It’s sort of stressful because I want to be original and amazing and not rip off other people’s creativity.
So anyway. Please enjoy my photos.
I’m still trying to figure out how to organize this stuff. Ah…I’ll figure it out eventually.
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