A chat with Jennifer Mendez, Part 2.
Hi Guys,
Here is the second, and unfortunately final, part of my chat with Brisbane photographer Jennifer Mendez.
As you’ll see she is a driven photographer with a lot of great ideas and we really start to get into her personal path both now and into the future.
Again, check out her blog here, and a more extensive collection of her images can be found here.
Shall we continue…
I guess with all the fashion surrounding you, you were influenced to join with a friend of yours, Natasha Ranchold, and start a sort of joint venture business?
Yeah, Natasha is starting out in make-up artistry and pretty darn good at it too! We thought we would get together and practice (with the help of our friends). We had originally planned to market ourselves to the wedding industry but we are still undecided as to where to go with it.
How do you and Natasha work together on shoots? Do you leave her with the makeup and she leaves you with the lens, or do you find it’s more of a collaborative process?
Collaborative but we trust each other’s judgement. We always discuss the type of feel or story we are trying to tell before the shoot but sometimes that changes when we get there and feel that another idea will be better. I do ask her at times to do the eye make-up in a specific way and she will sometimes ask for a particular shot to include in her portfolio.
Ok, so you both act as art director if you each have a specific need?
Yeah or vision…
As in a narrative? Or just a mood that strikes you?
Both…
And I guess it helps with your photo shoots that you have good-looking friends that are willing to help out?
We were just discussing this the other day…all our friends appear to be incredibly good looking and have no qualms about spending a few hours on the weekend to help us out. We’re lucky.
Although there is one thing you dislike shooting: yourself.
Yes, I’m hoping there are no follow up questions… Then…. yes, I feel stupid posing in front of people and even more so on a self-timer….this goes to show how great our friends are to do this for us! No, not guilt. We always just ask and don’t expect. If someone is willing, then it’s all systems go! I’m just humbled that so many people have said yes. “We all know the saying “A photograph never lies” but I learnt that in today’s world of almost impossible perfection, the lie is now the photograph (thank you Ian for the thought of the day!). Give 10 photographers a camera and you’ll get 10 different photographs of the same scene, which one is the true portrayal? All of them. None of them. “ As a photographer we are always choosing the angle, how to frame, what to keep in focus, what to include, what to hide. So really a photograph is never a true representation of the world but more of the world as we see it or how we choose to see it. A photographer always includes him or herself in each photograph by choosing these variables. Maybe lie is too strong a word. But ambiguous, absolutely. With programs like photoshop we can take the ‘lie’ even further and create perfection from an imperfect world. I recently went to a shoot on a cold and windy day and the shoot was to promote a new hotel near the beach so we needed to show a warm, sunny and fun mood. No problem, we choose different locations, worked with the wind, dressed the girl up in a bikini and the perfect sunny day was created. 
If you had asked me on day 1 whether I would be doing an internship with a fashion photographer, attending fashion week, owning a full frame camera, creating my own fashion shoots with friends… I would have called you crazy…
What’s next within this or other projects, what do we have to look forward to?
As a follower? Hopefully only better and more interesting photographs to come. I’m quite critical of my work sometimes, so there is always better around the corner. I’d like to explore film more and other styles of photography (street) so you might see some side projects around this. Hopefully the next 100 days will be as interesting as the last…
I notice an M9 was recently added to your wish list?
You noticed correctly.
Due to inspiration from the Henri Cartier-Bresson exhibition (in Brisbane)?
That definitely didn’t deter me…but I had investigated it previously when I was looking into buying a film camera. I do love HCB’s work and I know that a photographer is not his camera…but hey, it’s a Leica!!
Finally, if you could hang one photo anywhere in the world for one week, where would it be and why?
One photo of my own or another artist?
Yours. It doesn’t have to exist at the moment, its more about the where than the what.
Dang it man, you’ve got me thinking…
Ok, at first I thought about hanging something with a message in a public place to reach lots of people, but I think I’ll answer this differently. I would hang some old photograph of my family in my house, to remind me about what’s really important in life and where I’ve come from.
Well, I apologise for interrupting your mango eating but we got there. Thanks for your time and hopefully we can do it again when you finish your 365 project!
Great talking with you and hopefully I’ll have many more stories to tell at the end of the project!
As mentioned Jennifer posts new photos everyday (sometimes more) and she is always working on more than one thing. Follow her adventures at her
and be sure to subscribe to her for her complete photo shoots.
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