Photographing feelings with Shona Jaray

What's your background in photography?

My interest in photography was sparked when I was about 10 years old by an enlightened schoolteacher who set up a make-shift darkroom in our classroom. I was fascinated by seeing a print emerge but opportunities to train as a photographer were absent as we lived in a remote rural area so I trained as a dietitian.

I’m now retired and live on the Kapiti Coast. My love of the countryside inspired me to pick up a camera again, I wanted to be able to capture the ever-changing mood of the landscape around me.

I love being creative and learning new things - new techniques, new processes. I am not afraid of failure when I try new things and I think that helps to embolden me when it comes to photography.
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How would you define your photographic style?

In a word - probably eclectic!

I try to photograph what I feel rather than what I see. Sometimes in a landscape, I just sit there for a while absorbing what I see and how it makes me feel. I like to add something that takes the image beyond representational.

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Do you edit your images?

For my still life photos, I often add a texture and also play around/experiment with different effects in Nik software or Topaz.

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‍From your point of view, what makes a good Still Life photo?

I think that it has to be beautiful in some way and there should be some element of the photographer’s personality.

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‍What is the hardest part of taking photographs?

Perhaps getting inspiration, knowing where to start. I also think a good knowledge of lighting helps and for me that is an area where I need more skill.
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What advice would you give to people just starting photography?

Spend time looking at other photographs in your chosen genre to get inspiration. I don’t mean copy them, instead, get ideas then put your own interpretation and style

into it.

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Tell us about the competitions you’ve had success with...

I have had several ‘nominations’ over the years with photos I’ve entered into the International Color Awards and in 2019 I won the whole Food - Amateur section which was a huge surprise - someone texted me that I had won (nearly a year after entering) and I thought they must have made a mistake!

I have also had various acceptances and a couple of bronze medals in the north Shore Salon, acceptances in the PSNZ National Exhibition and other similar salons.
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Do you have any favorite photos?

The images which I am most pleased with I have managed to “prevision” after having started with an idea and then doing a fair bit of research.

My favourite photo is of the cape gooseberries, the image which won the amateur food section at the International Color Awards. It turned out just as I had previsioned. For me, whether or not an image does well in a competition is generally not all that important although when something does really well it is a bonus!

To make the Cape Gooseberries photo I placed a sheet of black velvet over a 60cm square chopping block, then a sheet of glass and then the cape gooseberries. I closed all the blinds to darken the room and used a couple of Lume cubes to light the scene. I did very little in-post, just some cleaning up of blemishes/spots of dust etc. on the glass or velvet. I was using my Fuji XT2 with XF60mm F2.4 macro lens on a tripod.

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