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Rangefinder
Magazine Profile: Jennifer George
Walker by Stephanie Boozer Portraits by Jennifer George Walker are often frank and emotional. Shunning the confines of traditional, more formal portraiture, Walker captures her subjects from interesting angles that challenge the viewer to evaluate the image in its entirety and draw meaning. Through the lens of her camera, she captures the newness of babies, the subtleties of children, and the glints of personality that twinkle in an eye. Her portraits of children are typically made either looking down or at eye-level with the child, because that’s how parents usually view their children.
“The way that parents see their children everyday is how they’ll remember them,” says Walker. “When I take these photos, I’m trying to capture the way that people are in reality. Even in a family portrait, I usually have children sit on the laps of their parents, because that’s how they’ll remember them. Parents want to remember and feel that connection. ”In many of her child portraits, Walker captures the child looking directly at the camera. And as the cliché states, “the eyes are the windows to the soul.” Captured in timeless black and white, their eyes penetrate through Walker’s images, enforcing a connection with the child, even with unfamiliar viewers. As a mother of three, Walker has a knack for getting children to fall into poses without a struggle. Her intuitive sense of a child’s disposition helps her get exactly what she needs.
“ Jennifer captures what parents love about their children,” says Walker’s assistant Heather Vallentyne. “She’s really good at reading the personality of a child, and she’s also able to bring out the natural beauty of someone.” Walker currently runs her studio out of her home in the Del Mar community of San Diego, California. The affluent neighborhood is close to the beach and a variety of beautiful shooting locations, and is lush with prospective clients. Amidst the highly competitive portrait photography market of San Diego, Walker’s studio is thriving. Aside from her website, Walker doesn’t bother much with marketing and promotion. Instead, she gets a steady flow of clients via word of mouth, one of the best advertising schemes going. “ Most people come to me because they have already heard of me,” explains Walker. “They’re not coming from the Yellow Pages.”
Walker got her start in 1993, when she began attending photography classes at San Diego City College. She attended classes on and off until graduating in 1999 and initially trained as a commercial photographer. After the birth of her third child, Walker started shooting portraits, and stumbled onto a career that she loved. Having visited a PPA meeting in 1998, Walker began networking with a group of women photographers. She entered four prints into competition, and merited all four. After three years, Walker earned her Master Photographer degree from PPA. This year marks Walker’s first with WPPI, and she hung (scored “80” or above) all six prints she entered into competition. She was the first place winner in the Premier category, and won the Grand Award in the Premier category as well.
“When I enter competitions, I use them as a learning tool,” says Walker. “I don’t let any criticism defeat me. I take the constructive criticism and I change what needs to be changed.” In 2001, Walker won the prestigious California Photographer of the Year award, and the People’s Choice Award at the same PPA convention, for an image entitled “Dilemma.
”“ This was a big step for me, because the image wasn’t just a pretty picture,” says Walker. Depicting a black girl and a white boy, “Dilemma” sent a message about race and relationships. It marked a new direction in Walker’s work, a desire to do more than document the world around her, but to send a message as well. “ I have always put myself in my work, that’s what differentiated it from other people’s,” says Walker. “It was a real epiphanous moment for me. This is an amazing gift I have, it’s unbelievable. I have to make myself quit working everyday. ”Walker’s involvement with PPA pushed her to finely hone her technical skills, which she saw as the best possible foundation for her work. “ I also pushed myself creatively, in order to offer things to my clients that they had never seen before,” explains Walker. “I’m an artist, versus just being a photographer. I do gallery showings, and all of that gives me greater credibility with my clients.
”Walker also places her work in the public library, and lets clients know via a friendly postcard where they can see her work on display. This furthers her appeal as an artist. Walker’s website, which she’s only had up since November 2002, has proven to be the best marketing tool she’s ever had. “ The site validates me as an artist before my clients even see me,” she says. Elegant, simple to navigate, and full of graceful movement (thanks to Macromedia Flash elements), Walker’s site incorporates her gallery of work with soothing sounds and gorgeous treatments. Most of the images are in classic black and white, with creative graphic effects that enhance, rather than detract from the images. Clients instantly get a feeling for her work, and her artistic vision. “ I think as photographers, we are destined to be artistic in expression in what we do,” says Walker. “We not only document families, but we speak to the world through our work.”
Though Walker previously shot with a Mamiya 645 medium-format film camera, she recently switched over to a digital studio. Her trusty companion now is a Fuji FinePix S2 Pro digital camera, which sports a 6.2-megapixel CCD. She uses a range of zoom lenses, which allow her to compose images quickly. Though Walker occasionally pulls out the Mamiya for certain shots, she prefers the convenience of digital capture. “ Moving to the digital format exploded my creativity, spontaneity, and emotion,” says Walker. “I’m much faster now.” Ever seeking to improve her talents and grow as an artist, Walker continues to blur the lines between art and portraiture. “My clients are moving to a more artistic look,” she explains. “When clients see my personal artwork, they want it for themselves.”
Walker is currently perfecting a new portfolio of work showcasing her new focus, which she’ll enter into competi-tion this year. Walker also seeks to en-courage her fellow photographers, and frequently lectures. Her lecture, titled “Unlock your Creativity and Open the Artist Within,” is an attempt to guide fellow photographers in unleashing their creative potential. “ Tapping into my artistic side has given me enthusiasm and joy, not only in photography, but in life,” says Walker. “It is such an experience to have the opportunity to photograph people. And when I talk to them, they always say it’s an experience to remember.” You
can view more of Walker’s images at www.jwalkerphotography.com. |
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