Since our inception, we here at Renu have been committed to sourcing the art we use in our various campaigns from local photographers, illustrators and designers. We think it’s important to be involved with the arts community while getting our hands on some amazing artwork.
Check back with us here in the comings months as we’ll be posting more interviews like this one with featured artists. Enjoy!
Our most recent collaborator is Jen Baer, a talented photographer from New York, who grew up on weekend visits to New England. We liked Jen’s work so much, we decided to put her photos on the backs of our newest business cards. Jen was gracious enough to take a few minutes out of her hectic schedule to talk about her work.
Renu: Hi Jen! How would you describe your style to someone who hasn’t seen your photography before?
Jen: I describe my work as “artful documentary”. Many of my interiors and abstracts tout super vibrant colors and hard lines, but the common thread in most of my personal work is a muted palette. Especially while editing images of people, I find myself turning down the volume in order to hear what they want to say. I am really drawn to monotone traditional portraiture for that reason. Printing can be like painting for me. I prefer a hands-on workflow, in order to maintain the intended subtleties of an image. Cabin Archives is a digital artisan print house within Baer Studio; a revival of my early days of printing for artists with archival pigments and fine art papers. “The Cabin” is a great option for other artists/photographers who want to collaborate with an artisan printer in creating small editions.
Renu: What was the impetus for picking up a camera in the first place? Was there a defining moment when you decided to start taking photos?
Jen: When I was a kid, I spent a lot of time exploring the woods in New England. There was a lot of solitude and naturally curious, I think I just grew an attachment to looking. Looking under, around and into… I was very affected by my surroundings. I think I first made use of my father’s cameras around the age of nine – polaroids and canons – and now I carry one of those same cameras in my everyday bag. Becoming adept with digital equipment was pulling me off a creative path for a time. Handling a film camera with a fixed lens has brought me back to that “just go and see” experience. Less brain, more heart. There is a bucket of film at home that needs developing. I want to see how much they do or don’t resemble those first rolls.
Renu: Has there been a project or a subject that’s been particularly important and memorable?
Jen: Bears. Ok, I haven’t shot bears, or wolves just yet, but I think the idea of it kind of defines me. Adventuring while helping important causes is the most satisfying formula for me. I may not have been conscious of the possibilities when I first picked up a camera but it certainly is what keeps me from abandoning this work for something more stable and less physically demanding. There is always potential for something great. In the coming year, I am planning to work with some rainforest inhabitants of both human and crawly kind in South America. The objective is to document a teaching fellowship and help ensure its success…which can help ensure longevity of the communities and the rain forests. See what I mean? Then there is the obvious bonus of hanging out in astounding beauty and bringing some of it back to share.
Renu: Do you have a favorite location to shoot? Your “it” place?
Jen: The next one is always the most exciting. Often, the draw to a new place is it’s structural presence – that first big impression of urban or natural landscape. Then shortly after comes seeing the forest for the trees and getting swept away by the reality of the life that exists there. My favorite place is the one that I get to stay in for a while before shooting. It makes a huge difference to the trueness of the photos if I’ve made that connection with people and place.
Renu: What kind of impression do you hope to leave upon viewers of your work?
Jen: Much of the work that I do is about accuracy and much about art. I would love to leave behind heirloom books that tell stories of where we lived and the conditions of our lives. But also work, so full of “life”, that it makes viewers want to review it time and again – images that remind us to embrace and reflect upon, with emotion, whatever it is that we value most deeply. That is always the hope I have for my art.
