Julie Guertin + The Story Behind

Would you believe that this beautiful self portrait was created when our feature photographer, Julie Guertin, had just two frames left in her film roll? A satisfying self portrait can take the very best of us upwards of 20 times that to get what we are after! We love the story of Julie’s happenstance process for her film development, read on to discover her “soup”!

IG Handle:
@julieguertin

Where was this photo taken?
This was taken in my tiny bedroom.

Can you tell us “The Story Behind” this shot?
For the past year or so, I’ve worked a lot on developing and embracing my artistic voice. This image is a visual representation of me coming out of my artistic shell; embracing who I am as an artist, even if it is scary.

DSLR, iPhone, instant or film?
Film- Nikon F100 + Sigma Art 35mm

What were your camera settings for this image?
Portra 400 rated at 400
Aperture: 2.0
Shutter: 1/30
Metered for the highlights

What speaks to you about this image? What specifically made you press the shutter?
The light: the contrast between the light and the shadows.

What was your composition technique with this shot?
Center due to the lack of space and my lens.

Did you have any lighting challenges? How did you light the image?
It was a very low-lit space.

Did you use any special techniques?
Film soup! It is a process where you chemically alter your roll of film by soaking it in a liquid (or mix of liquids). Results are unpredictable, but can be pretty amazing.

Was this photo happenstance or did you visualize it prior? If so, how did you envision the image and set up for it?
I visualize it prior. I had my concept in mind and only one or 2 frames left on my roll, so not a lot of room for errors. I placed my camera on my tripod, set the self-timer mode, metered for the highlights, pressed the shutter, got into the frame and pray for the best!

How did you develop your film?
I developed the film, the FIND Lab scanned it and I did some minor tweaks in Lightroom.

Julie Guertin of Melbourne by way of Canada can be found at the following:
SITE // FACEBOOK // INSTAGRAM