Research PaperCharmaine Hamilton
Jennifer M. Loomis / Gertrude Kasebier Jennifer Loomis has been working professionally in the world of photography for 12 years, she has spent her time traveling, volunteering and working with women and women's issues. Loomis is an award-winning photographer and photojournalist. Today she makes her home in Seattle, Washington where she also bases her studio. Jennifer Loomis received a Bachelor's Degree in International Politics, Development from the University of Virginia in 1990 and her Master's Degree in Journalism from the University of Missouri, Columbia in 1997. While working toward her undergraduate degree she studied abroad in Osaka, Japan focusing on Asian Studies and Japanese. Other locations that Jennifer's work has taken her to include Indonesia, Thailand, Nepal, Mongolia, Singapore, Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, and Norway. Loomis is fluent in Japanese, conversational French, as well as functional Bahasa, Indonesian, and Swahili.(www.jenniferloomis.com) Jennifer Loomis is an active volunteer, having worked with Planned Parenthood, Women's Rights Awareness Program and UNICEF. Her client base also includes: CARE International, Peace Corps Magazine, Los Angeles Times, The Gates Foundation, TIME, and many more. Loomis has worked on projects pertaining to HIV, housing, girls' education in east Africa, and domestic violence to name a few. These projects include still photographs, video and audio as well as online multimedia. Loomis' work has been exhibited both in galleries and on the web. More recently, Jennifer Loomis has worked with pregnant women and families. Loomis got her start photographing pregnant women after Annie Liebowitz's studio began sending her referrals (This was after Leibowitz's Demi Moore photograph). (www.jenniferloomis.com) Because of her background in documentary photography, Loomis does not consider herself to be a portrait photographer. She works to capture "real moments and emotions." Jennifer Loomis wants her clients to feel that their photo session is an experience, a time to be relaxed, feel beautiful and empowered. Loomis starts by meeting her clients and talking, she believes that relationships are key to the photograph. Jennifer finds out what each woman wants from this experience as well as her tastes in photography and any preferences she may have. Women are allowed to tell stories of who they are and where they come from while feeling safe in the environment Loomis has made for them. Jennifer then leads her clients through some Yoga, breathing and posture. She allows her clients to then relax and fall into comfortable positions; it is at this time that she can successfully record a "real moment and emotion" in the life of this mother. Jennifer Loomis' main influences are Joyce Tennyson, Ruth Bernhard, Imogene Cunningham, Annie Liebowitz, Nan Goldin, Barbara Kruger, Jodi Cobb, and Sally Mann. Jennifer Loomis' photographs may have qualities that emulate some of these artists, but she definitely has a style that is uniquely her own. In my research of female photographers I noticed another woman whose photographs had many similarities to Jennifer Loomis'. This photographer, Gertrude Kasebier, was born in Iowa in 1852. Gertrude did not start her photography career until later in her life, after her children had grown. She began studying art at age 37 at the Pratt Institute in New York. Gertrude opened a photo studio in New York City, specializing in portraits of women and children in 1897. Gertrude Kasebier is said to have done more for artistic portraiture than any other of her time, painter or photographer. (Rosenblum 320) Gertrude Kasebier accomplished many things in her career. Kasebier became a well-known name during the Pictorialist movement. She was a founding member of the groups: Photo-Secession and the Pictorial Photographers of America as well as the first woman to be inducted into The Linked Ring. Because of her involvement with Photo-Secession, Alfred Steiglitz began publishing her photographs in Camera Work. It is said of Gertrude that her purpose of taking photographs was "not to inform, but to share an experience, to evoke an emotional response from the viewer." She evoked these emotions by her use of light. Kasebier allowed the light to create atmospheric quality and define the space within the photograph. (Michaels 32) These relaxed poses set in natural lighting emphasized her favorite and most praised theme, motherhood. The theme of motherhood is the number one similarity between these two women. Even though these women have worked in two different centuries, their ideas are much the same. Motherhood is a right of passage that should be embraced and documented. Loomis and Kasebier go about this documentation differently. Kasebier photographed women and children together in everyday, leisurely activities. Loomis of the other hand does photograph families and children, but specializes in photographing mothers during their time of maternity. Both of these women utilize natural light in their photographs. This natural light is manipulated to create the quality of light that is needed for these sometimes soft, sometimes dramatic images. Loomis and Kasebier intentionally move away from the standard rules of portraiture to produce an experience or "real moment" in a person's life. Gertrude also worked on gaining emotional responses from her viewers. This may not be part of Jennifer's endeavor, but I think many of her photographs do evoke an emotional response from the viewer. The emphasis of form and pattern are visible in Kasebier's photographs. She plays with the pattern of fabrics juxtaposed with shadows and light in her photograph, The Garden Party. Loomis has a simple approach, emphasizing the person and the use of light. Many of Loomis' clients appear partially nude, using only a strategically draped piece of cloth to cover themselves. This allows for the viewer to focus on the directness of her photographs, the form of the rounded stomach, the darkened nipples and the radiance of the woman being photographed. Jennifer Loomis and Gertrude Kasebier have been very successful in their work with mothers and children. Loomis states that "the best thing is to increase the awareness of this genre of photography so more mothers will want to have it done." In speaking with Jennifer she has inspired me and made me think about putting more emotion and "real moments" into my own portraiture. Women photographers have played roles in shaping the world and it's images, Jennifer Loomis and Gertrude Kasebier are just two great examples of women working in the world of art. For more information about Jennifer Loomis look for her first book coming out soon. Work Cited*The majority of this paper was written based on my interview with Jennifer Loomis and the resources she provided me (resume and pictures.)
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