Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jaime Rose Farreh. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Jaime Rose thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The project that I am currently working on. I am using a medium format twin lens reflex camera to shoot the 22 squares of the city of Savannah. The project is being done in black and white, and the particular camera I am using utilizes a square medium format negative. The approach I am taking is two fold. First I am shooting from outside the square into it. Secondly I am taking shots of scenery and buildings from inside the square. The idea is to showcase the squares and the landscapes surrounding them from unique perspectives.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I graduated from the New England School of Photography in 2001. I have shot with 35mm negative SLR’s, digital SLR’s, and currently have been using a Mamiya C220F professional TLR. My primary focus has almost always been landscape and scenic photography. Initially while still residing in suburban Massachusetts most of my work consisted of nature scenery, however when my husband and I moved to Georgia in 2008 I realized the vast amount of history that resided in Savannah, especially in the downtown area. This is when I was able to mix 2 of my favorite hobbies, history and photography. I began shifting my work towards photographing historical landscapes and scenery of Savannah and the surrounding area. What tends to set my work apart from other images of the Savannah area is in how I try to compose my images. All too often photos of popular and historic sites and buildings tend to be the same relatively straight on, eye level angles. Whereas I endeavor to create unusual and unique compositions of the seeming everyday and mundane. For example, rather than just taking a shot of a building that sits on the periphery of one of the squares, I will go into the square and try to find an interesting view of that building that incorporates the scenery of the square itself. A view that is almost as if someone were walking through the square and happened to look up and see that particular building or structure. I am proud of the fact that I have sold prints from my Etsy store that have shipped all across the U.S. That people find my work as interesting as I do and that it reminds them of a trip or vacation that they had taken to Savannah is a constant source of inspiration for me. Recently someone purchased one of my prints of a square as a present for their husband because that is the square where she had gotten engaged. Stories like that make me glad to share my gift with the world.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

At the end of the day the reason I do what I do is because of how much I enjoy it. Simply put, I love the kind of photography I do. Even if I never made any money from it, I would still continue to do it. For me it is not a job or a career, it is more than a hobby, it is part of who I am. I decided to start posting my work to social media and opened my Etsy store as a way to showcase my work and share it with the world. Every print I sell is the world telling me that there is someone out there that loves one of my images as much as I do and wants to have one of their very own.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

One of the biggest changes I made was in the type of photography I did when we moved to Savannah. Prior to that most of my work tended to be of nature landscapes. More scenery that was of forested and hilly in composition as well as winter landscapes. In New England many months of the year everything is covered in snow and ice and the bitter cold can make it difficult and sometimes treacherous to get to a location and the layers of protective clothing can make it very tough to operate the camera equipment. After moving I had to adjust to that fact that I was instead shooting almost exclusively urban and architectural scenes and was trying to compensate for having to deal with the heat and humidity of the southern summers rather than the freezing cold conditions of northern winters.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.etsy.com/shop/jaimerosephotography
• Instagram: @jaime_rose_photography
• Facebook: jaime_rose_photography

Image Credits

Jaime Rose Farreh