Jessica Petersen

Meet Jessica Petersen (and her dog, Twink), the latest participant in my "This Is Their Place" portrait/interview project.

You can see more photos of Jessica and her place, and read her story here.

Jessica's place:

Sandy City Dog Park
Sandy, UT

Nikon D700
Nikkor 85mm f.18
Nikon SB-800

Open call for participants - "This Is Their Place"

Hello, dear readers...if you or someone you know is living in the greater Salt Lake City, UT area and are interested in participating in my "This Is Their Place" interview and portrait project please drop me a line!

Here's a link to the project's site:

This Is Their Place

...and here's some more some information about the project:

On July 24, 1847, Brigham Young and the first Mormon pioneers exited Emigration Canyon and saw the Great Salt Lake Valley. The phrase "This is the place" is attributed to Brigham Young as he declared that the valley would become their new home.

This series features residents of the Salt Lake Valley - natives and modern-day "pioneers" alike - who wish to share their own place of significance.

The title "This Is Their Place" is a play on Brigham Young's famous phrase "This is the place"[wikipedia], as stated when he first saw the Great Salt Lake Valley.

The idea behind the project is to create portrait/interview sessions of locals who wish to share the story of their own place of significance, be it a positive or a negative association: The place where a marriage proposal was accepted; The place where love was lost; The place where someone found God; The last place one's stolen car was parked; Where someone won the lottery; Where someone was struck by lighting; and so on.

As a relative newcomer to Salt Lake City I started this project as a way to meet new people, see some interesting places and share those experiences with others.

Some of those people and places have included:

Jesse Harding at the "Living Room" up in Red Butte Canyon



Jake O'Connor at the Main Library



Sarah Nielson (and Daisy) at Liberty Lake/Liberty Park



Qualifications for participation

My guidelines for agreeing to a location are: The location should be within the Salt Lake Valley; No specific location can be used for more than one profile; The location must be publicly-accessible (preferably free).

Participants must be of legal age of consent, those not of age must be accompanied by their parent(s) or legal guardian(s).

How it works

Interested participants will respond to a series of interview questions before their photo shoot is scheduled. Questions asked of all participants include:

• Occupation/employer (optional)
  
• What is your place?
  
• Why is this place special to you?
  
• What do you enjoy most about Salt Lake City?
  
• What do you dislike about Salt Lake City?
  
• Do you have any additional comments about living here?
  

The subject and I will then meet at their place and after a model release is signed I'll take a series of environmental portraits. Despite Q&A being done beforehand, during the photo shoot I'll also talk with the subject to learn more details about them and their place and will ask a unique question specific to each participant after the portrait session.

Finally I process 6 images from the photo shoot and combine those with the text of the Q&A to create a profile that is published to this blog. I then schedule a meeting time to deliver a CD-ROM with all the photos taken during a participant's shoot, which they are free to publish or print for any personal use. Participants wishing to publish their photos for any commercial use should contact me for permission first.

For more information or to participate contact me at yourplace [at] calanan.com.

Thanks,

- mike

Calanan Photography
calanan.com

Jesse Harding

Jesse, originally uploaded by calanan.

Meet Jesse Harding, the latest participant in my "This Is Their Place" portrait/interview project.

You can see more photos of Jesse and his place, and read his story here.

Jesse's place:

"The Living Room", a series of stone chairs and
couches high in the foothills above Salt Lake City
Red Butte Canyon
Salt Lake City, UT

Nikon D200
Tokina 12-24mm f/4
Nikon SB-800, 1/4 CTO

Jesse on the web:

Blog: jesseharding.com
Twitter: @jdawg

Jake

Jake, originally uploaded by calanan.

One of the portraits I shot for my photo project, "This Is Their Place"

[view larger]

See: thisistheirplace.calanan.com

Jake O'Connor

Blog: "SLC Steez"

Salt Lake City Public Library
Salt Lake City, UT

Tokina 12-24mm f/4
Nikon SB-800, 1/4 CTO

Sarah Nielson

Sarah's Contact Sheet, originally uploaded by calanan.

Latest portraits for my new photo project, "This Is Their Place"

See: thisistheirplace.calanan.com

Liberty Lake at Liberty Park
Downtown SLC, UT

Sarah was as funny and quick-witted in person as she is in her writing and despite both of our minds and bodies protesting the early meeting time I chose (for the morning light!) the shoot went very well.

As for her place, I have only been to Liberty Park a couple of times since we moved to SLC and I can honestly say that I have been missing out. It's a beautiful park, it's peacefully quiet on a Sunday morning and if my alarm clock (and strong coffee) works I'll be spending more time there on future Sundays.

Be sure to check out her blog entry about this shoot, "Calanan Photo Project | Tales of Wit and Charm" and then go get caught up on her archives.

I'm enjoying how this project is progressing, how I'm getting to meet new people and see interesting places. I'm also learning a lot about my craft, especially learning from my mistakes. After Thom's interview I learned that swapping lenses just 1) takes up time and 2) distracts me from taking portraits. For this shoot I planned to slim down my gear but ended up doing the same dang thing again, just slightly less so.

I tried taking some environmental portraits with a super-wide lens (12mm) but the two I processed (2nd in and last on the contact sheet) just didn't cut it. There are some situations where wide angles work well and I'm still trying to sort out the best times to use them.

From now on I'm going to stick with one, maybe two lenses and concentrate on the portrait-making process. This will have the added benefit of giving the shots a more consistent look.

Sarah and Daisy

Sarah and Daisy, originally uploaded by calanan.

One of the portraits I shot for my new photo project, "This Is Their Place"

See: thisistheirplace.calanan.com

Sarah Nielson

Blog: "Tales of Wit and Charm"

Twitter: sarahbellum

Liberty Lake at Liberty Park
Downtown SLC, UT

Sigma 30mm f/1.4
Nikon SB-800, 1/4 CTO

A new "This Is Their Place" project profile

Heather at the SLC airport viewing area, originally uploaded by calanan.

I've posted a new interview/portrait session today on my This Is Their Place blog featuring Heather Culligan at the Salt Lake City International Airport. Go check it out, thanks!

Salt Lake City International Airport (SLC)
Salt Lake City, UT

Tokina 12-24mm f/4
Nikon SB-800, 1/4 CTO