"Puppet Breaking Loose" and a morning in the forest

September 1, 2016 Sabine Jacobs

Oh boy, this image was too much trial and error! I shot the components twice and I lost count on the edits I tried to do. A few days ago I started from scratch and voilà it finally came together the way i imagined it! My first shoot took place in the big hallway of my house and I used the head, body and dress from this shoot (sounds weird, I know). Because I was shooting by myself, I had no way of attaching the rope to my arms in a believable way. So, I recruited my best assistant (and all around favorite person ) - my mom. :)

I had to take a few headshots as well for upcoming projects so it was kind of a "two flies with one stone" thing. We packed everything up and drove to a place where we had peace and quiet and good backgrounds. We took my portrait shots and then ventured into the forest. Originally, I wanted to put the "puppet" in a forest setting but in post I saw that it just wouldn't work out. The background was simply far too busy and the ropes didn't stand out anymore.

Eventually, I used a stock photo as my background and I'm quite happy with the result. It's not my best work but I learned a lot from it! Plus - the hours in the forest with my mom were extremely awesome! Below you see three behind the scenes shots - the forest as my dressing room, the two of us, and my style mix match before i decided to just run around barefoot. And, no, walking barefoot in a forest doesn't hurt. It really doesn't! It's soft and nice. It did take a while, however, to get the tree sap off my feet...... :)

Thinking about the image and its theme throughout the process of shooting and editing made me aware of how many of these ropes I have been able to cut throughout this year and of how much freedom this gave me. When we really think about it, we have too many ropes in our lives. Most of them were tied by nobody else but ourselves. What are the ropes you want to cut? What are the things in your life that you want to break free from?

One of my favorite places and power spots - the forest!

Dance Without the Devil on your Back

August 1, 2016 Sabine Jacobs

I shot this image two weeks ago and finished editing the night before my birthday last week. It is a very simple image but holds a lot of meaning for me. Letting go and living freely from all ones demons has been something I thought a lot in the past months and I have actively worked towards that freedom. The night before my personal new year started I made the decision that it's time to shake things of and "dance freely". I wanted to remember this feeling with this image and published it that night.

"Of Hope and Despair"

June 13, 2016 Sabine Jacobs

On a freezing cold November afternoon in 2014, my good friend and I took a very uninviting dirt road halfway up a mountain to an old, old house. The house belonged to the ancestors of one her family members and we were allowed to shoot there. Back then I was brand new to the area of fine art portraiture and for her it was the second shoot with me, but definitely the first one where she was required to put on dresses, float through a room and be barefoot and freezing the whole time (I still feel bad for her...).

We set out to tell a story - that of a girl, living alone in a far-off place, of how she is fighting her fears, her despair, and finding her strength. After the shoot, I started editing that same night, massively big mug of hot tea next to me. The edit didn't work and after several attempts, I had to accept that it just wouldn't click. Either I didn't fully connect with the material or my techniques were still too lousy - probably a combination of both. After having gone back to editing repeatedly for a few months, I accepted that these images were just not going to see the light of day.

Then, rather recently, something changed. Our friendship got deeper, we shared many of our sorrows and joys that are all so much part of everyone's life and we got a better understanding of one another's personalities, hopes, dreams, worries and happiness. I think understanding my friend better, seeing her struggles and her joys and strengths drove me back to these images. Within two days the edit was complete!

Of Losing Oneself - Speed Edit Video!

March 9, 2016 Sabine Jacobs

For this image I have a quick speed edit for you! I had a lot of fun shooting the photo and putting it all together.

My Exhibition 2015/2016! A little piece of me...

February 8, 2016 Sabine Jacobs

I have had three exhibitions so far. All of them showing my other photographic work which you can see on www.busybee.at. Every time I was nervous, every time was nerve-wracking. With these fine art portraits I thought that it would take me much longer to build up the courage to show them publicly, printed and framed, on a wall, spotlights on. Surprisingly, it didn't take me that long. The thought WAS nerve-wracking but then everything happened very fast.

I got a lot of encouragement from the people around me, a date was set, images selected, printed, hung. Instead of planning an opening and making myself even more nervous, I decided against an opening and went with the "they hang, it's too late anyway" attitude ;) . An exhibition is always unnerving. But it gets really bad when it takes place in your hometown. Many people know you, see you around town and many of them see your images. In the grocery store, or anywhere else, you start seeing yourself as "the girl dressed in blue fabric, emerging from a giant birds nest". It is pretty funny when you really think about it!

Nerves and insecurities aside, the images are received really well (at least that's what I heard) and for me it was a bit of an ice breaker. If I do get the chance to show my new work again towards the end of 2016, I will feel less nervous and I can promise right now that my images will be bolder :)

Typically, I sell my images "off the wall" and they are sent or delivered after the exhibition ended or customers can order prints without the frame, I collect the order forms and get to work. It doesn't happen too often that I get to meet buyers. The day before New Year's Eve I DID meet buyers from Denmark that had decided to purchase the image "Curiosity". This was absolutely exciting and it made me truly happy to package and hand over this "little piece of me" personally. The buyers told me where they lived (an island in the North Sea!) and what meaning the image has for them. BEST part of my exhibition adventure! :) These are the brief moments that are the BIG reward for working on concepts, finding dresses and props, shooting in awkward places and/or positions, and hour-long, sometimes daylong edits. It reminds you why you create. I don't create to use up space on my computer's hard disk. This would be a very lonely and unfulfilling existence. I create and give a small piece of myself which then finds a new home, gets new meaning, and, hopefully, makes somebody happy!