This week’s Member Moment features work by Jess Saunders, who takes stunning photos of landscape and architecture. Scroll down to see her pictures and to read the interview!
PL: What got you interested in photography?
JS: A long love of movies honestly. I went through a period of wanting to be a cinematographer and a different stretch of wanting to be a photojournalist but the common thread was loving working with a camera.
I was deeply lucky to attend a high school that still had a functioning darkroom and had a great photography teacher. I spent full weekend days in my friend’s car trolling around abandoned paper mills and resorts in PA taking tons of photos, which I highly recommend.
PL: What type of camera do you shoot with?
PL: When taking pictures, what are some objects or elements or feelings within a scene that inspire you to take a photo?
JS: I really love looking for the empty space in a scene. I think there’s a lot of information to be gained from what isn’t there as much as what is. I’ve been really on that landscape grind recently but I was really into urban exploration in high school (weren’t we all?) and I loved seeing these deeply human places missing the key component of actual humans.
PL: Of the pictures you submitted, can you share an interesting story about one?
JS: This past September I was lucky enough to have my honeymoon in Alaska and in preparation I bought about 15 rolls of film. Immediately dealing with TSA taking so long to hand check my film that we almost our first of three flights to Juneau, Alaska.
The second we finally arrived I went to take my first shot on my trusty 30+ year old Nikon and… nothing. So the first 24 hours of my honeymoon was spent desperately searching Alaska’s capital for a button battery, which was much harder than you’d think it be.
I had promptly given up on my plans to photograph anything on the camera for this trip by the time we got onto the ferry up to Haines two days later when another photographer on our ferry happened to have an extra battery that fit perfectly.
The first shot I was able to snap was the one in the harbor with a rocky slope and light post, and I ended up spending so much time in that marina making up for what felt like lost time. It really felt like in some ways having 48 hours to sit with the scenery was more helpful than jumping back in, it was a good reminder to not get stuck behind the camera especially in such awe inspiring scenery.
PL: What do you enjoy most about digital/film photography and what is challenging about it?
PL: Do you have any goals or ideas of how you want to grow this collection of photographs?
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