TECHNICAL

For this project I shot 5 rolls of Kodak Tri-X400 film on a Nikon FM2 - 35mm SLR with a 50mm lens and one roll using a Minolta XG-M - 35mm SLR with a 28mm lens.  I had just acquired a 28mm lens before shooting my last roll and thought it would be a good option as I was taking photographs in tight spaces.  A tripod was used for all of my photographs since I was working in dimly lit spaces, as well as Tota lights when the natural light, or house lighting was not adequate.  With a Sekonic light meter, I took incidental light readings and did quite a bit of bracketing as I was new to measuring the light in this way.

For my prints, I used both the Durst and the Saunders enlargers as I wanted to understand the effects of each on the printing process.  For my final portfolio prints, I adjusted the filters, between 2.0 and 3.5, in order to have a cohesive aesthetic in terms of contrast and tone.

CONCEPT

My initial idea was to simply capture little vignettes of the different spaces within my parents' home without manipulating any of the objects.  Yet, the more I photographed, the more I began to see how their house actually reflected their individual personalities and parallelled their relationship.

Having lived in this house myself for many years, I did, and continued to regard it as our family home with a singular identity. However, as I made my way from room to room, it became evident that there was a very different energy upstairs on the main floor, versus downstairs in the basement. 

My parents have lived together in this house for 58 years and have always shared the household responsibilities and the various spaces equally, however, it was glaringly obvious that my mother's hand is all over the main floor, while the downstairs is my father's repository for "just in case" supplies.

Both my parents are fiercely independent, have very different personalities, come from different cultures and speak different languages - and the organization of their home reflects their individuality.  Photographing their house allowed me to create a visual testament of their lifelong relationship, and witness how they support each other and co-exist peacefully in their shared spaces. 

In hindsight, I see that this project does follow one of the main themes of my photography, which is to capture traces of humanity without the presence of humans.  Thus, these photographs are portraits of a couple through the shared spaces they navigate together yet apart.