WELCOME to the new home of Lexia Frank Photography!
If you're returning - we're going through a big re-branding of our business (nothing like a fresh new coat of paint!), from sugarLeaf Photography to Lexia Frank Photography. If you're new ... well then hello :)
I'm a fine art wedding, portrait, and birth photographer that has a love affair with film. Yes... film. you thought it was dead? well... guess again. i shoot medium format film (and sometimes digital), but you can check out what's in my photography bag here
if you're intrigued (or you're just the techy-type that loves to know the specs). If you dont care about the specs, well... i shoot film because it makes me slow down. it forces me to wait for just the right second. it forces me to stop rapid firing and appreciate the quiet beauty of the moment. it is honest, true, and authentic.
i love the process, i love the film grain, i love developing my own prints. i'm a purist, a fine art major from the University of Wisconsin, and i like to treat my weddings and portrait sessions not like the run of the mill photographer, but like it's an assignment for a gallery space. i value physical prints over pixels, and want my own children to be able to riffle through boxes of prints instead of locating folders on harddrives when they want to reminisce about their childhood. we appreciate handmade albums for weddings and family heirlooms, and giclée prints for the walls.
We love traveling all over the country (and often the world) to photograph amazing events and milestones... it fuels my soul to see people fall in love with each other, their babies, their lives. You can also read more about what i do and contact me at my main photography website at www.lexiafrank.com
cheers!
i loved this session with this beautiful family… but i am lucky enough to have photographed their birth as well. i’m waiting for the film to get back from the lab, and it’s killing me because i’m just so excited. I cant wait to share more with you from the birth of their little baby girl :)
this session is shot exclusively on medium format film- contax 645, fujifilm 400h pro, 80mm
all shot with the Contax 645 medium format film camera, fujifilm 400h proo, 80mm.
this is SO late. really, i’m so behind with all the things i’ve been wanting to share on the blog! but while i was up in Wisconsin for the premiere of the Canon Imagin8ion Project, these guys did a fabulous interview with me! it was really fun to do, we filmed for a long time and i have no idea how they were able to edit all of their footage and all the things we talked about into this little interview! but, i also wanted to post this video because you get to hear from Ali McCormick, the laboring mother (and also someone who is frequently on this blog because i get to photograph their life so much!) in the winning photograph.
two little disclaimers. i say that a photograph is all about light. which is true. but what they had to edit out is that it’s also about emotion- those two items go hand in hand to making an incredible and impactful photograph. Also……. i think you all probably know…. but i dont shoot with a canon (or a kit lens). but, since this was an interview for Canon, i used the camera and lens that they SO generously (!) gave me for winning the contest! none of the winners were expecting it (i mean… c’mon, we got a FILM made out of our photos, a free trip to NY, tons of press, got to hob nob with all the celebrities, a Canon Powershot, hometown premieres, and VIP treatment while in NY) and they sent it to us after the world premiere. So of course, that’s the camera i was going to use. i’ve had a few questions about it, so i just wanted to clarify!
since my boys were born, we’ve pick blueberries in early may, rain or shine. the first time was just after Tavish was born, and i wrapped him in my little sling and i picked and picked. And just 6 days after Pierson was born- even though he was so small he was almost devoured in that sling/wrap, we braved the heat and picked our buckets full. and now it’s so great to be able to see them run up and down the aisles of blueberries- eating more than they pick and showing me the treasures they’ve found- some of which include bird feathers, rolly polly bugs, interesting looking sticks, and butterflies. they talk about it all year long. i love this time.
oh, and did i mention this was a sort of impromptu picking? i had my camera with me by chance, but only ONE roll of film. anyone who knows me knows i shoot rolls and rolls, i’m a consumate over-shooter, and i’ve never in my life been able to shoot a series with just 2 or 3 rolls. i’m more of an 8-10 type of girl. so to have just ONE roll with me, just 16 frames, while shooting children (who cant stand still) with MANUAL focus…. well…. it was hard. my fellow film shooters out there know. you have to wait for your shot, you have to anticipate it, you have to be ready, you have to know your subject. you have to know your camera and your medium. so anyway, i’m quite proud of this little one roll series… and cant wait to put it in their album of childhood.
shot with medium format film- fuji 400h, with contax film camera.
it just feels like a gift when you receive prints in the mail…
Vintage Cigar boxes hold proof prints surrounded by blush tulle with french ribbon accents. Larger prints are wrapped in handmade paper folios, tied up with hand-dyed french ribbon in a variety of tones. not to mention the photographs inside….
Just wanted to update you all on the progress of the Canon Imagin8ion Project! I am super excited to let you know that it’s been accepted to three additional film festivals:
FILManthropy Film Festival
Cheyenne International Film Festival
ARTSFEST Film Festival
and has begun winning awards! it’s won “Best Short,” “Best Director (Bryce Dallas Howard)” and “Best Editing – Short (Tessa Davis).”
and, in case you missed it being aired on the IFC channel (ugh, i did too) it’s screening online right now! go check it out! www.youtube.com/imagination
if you are just joining us, you should probably go read this post: http://www.kissingtree.org/2012/02/11/tampa-premiere-of-the-canon-imagin8ion-film-when-you-find-me-a-ron-howard-production/
ps….. you guys want to go ‘like’ Lexia Frank Photography on facebook? i’m really not one of those people who care, or keep track of how many people are ‘following’ them. i just dont want anyone to miss out on updates if you’re still looking at SugarLeaf Photography (which will be going quiet and then dissolving after a bit). so, if you DO want to hear about our big news that’s coming up, i suggest making your way over here: http://www.facebook.com/LexiaFrankPhotography and giving us a big ole thumbs up. hopefully we can get everyone to migrate over there (ew… such a hassle… i know) so we can all be on the ….(no pun intended!) same page (ha!).
what’s that? you need some visual goodness? well… ok. just this once. (that’s a lie. i’m going to do it to you many many times in the future.)
I am so happy to share this session with you all, mainly because it’s my heart that i’m laying out here for you all. I know you’ve all read about the new direction we’re going with photography here, but this is the visual culmination of it. I photographed Deb Schwedhelm (a friend and fellow photographer)this is how i want to tell people’s stories- not by doing a pretty photo session, but my telling life as it truly is. isn’t this what the family portrait really is? a culmination of many moments, all telling your own personal story? can your family portrait really be told visually in one photograph when you’re dressed up and looking pretty and bribing the kids with ice cream treats after the session if they smile? I dont think it can, and i want to make it my mission to tell family stories artfully and truthfully. if you missed it, here is the blog post where i talk about what we’re doing differently here.
and… if you haven’t already checked out deb’s work, you absolutely must. and, most of all, she’s an incredible woman who understands that it’s not all about the physical image, it’s about the emotion and meaning behind it. she’s going to Tanzania this month (like… in 24 hours…) to photograph there for 6 weeks. you must read about it on her blog (as well as her other musings), and follow her journey. When i approached Deb about coming into her home at the crack of dawn and photographing her family as it really was, she was totally on board (and so was Steve, whom i give so much credit to. it’s not easy being a husband to a photographer or any creative for that matter, especially when they have creative friends who want to come into their home and photograph you in your shorts…) and ‘got it’ immediately. OH! and her CHILDREN! her amazing children. you have no idea the amount of creative energy that is coming out of the three of those kids. The canvases they have hanging in their house that they have painted I didnt believe they had painted. that pretend camera that Ryder is photographing me with they made for Deb for mothers day (i think?)- constructed, painted, and bedazzled. Ryder is a gymnast, but could easily grow up to be a professional dancer (do you see his form in that shot of him in the swing? i mean….) Skyler is going to be an artist, and Kiele a writer (calling that one right now…). I dont know if Deb knows how truly talented her children are, you know how things go, when you’re living them day to day it begins to feel normal. it was like everything in their home was a beautiful creation of who they really and truly were. how could i have captured that had we not been inside their home? That cardboard camera tells it’s own story, i can already see them all three collaborating on Deb’s present, it weaves other stories in and out of this curation of photographs.
It’s the atmosphere of the family. and i’m not talking about the visual atmosphere. i’m talking about the feeling. it would be quiet, and i would look over my shoulder and Ryder would be up in the door frame hanging out. like it’s just a normal sunday morning, and that’s his little perch. Kiele would be reading on the couch, and Sky would be padding around the house in bare feet. maybe i just think in terms of collections of photographs, but i want these photos to collectively convey not just what Family looks like, but what it feels like, what it sounds like, what it smells like, what emotion it makes… every sensory experience.
and THAT is what i believe a family album should be.
tech specs: shot exclusively with medium format film: ilford 3200 for black and white, and fuji 400h for color. contax 645, 80mm developed/scanned by the lovely RPL
I was going to wait until i got all my film back… but i just couldnt wait to share this from this weekend’s session in wisconsin. i cant tell you how much i love freckles… i wish my cheeks were sprinkled with them too.
Part of my on-going fine art maternity series, photographing the pregnant body underwater, covered with clay, and in milk- the three elements i feel represent the processes we go through that are intrinsic to becoming a mother.
photographed with: contax 645 medium format film camera, fuji 400h, developed/scanned by RPL
