RJ Kern: Photographer of Cactus Portraits

posted May 11, 2011 in Portraits

Why Shoot Personal Work?

The subject doesn’t tell you what to do.
The subject has zero expectations.
You explore and expand.
The subject is happy.
You are happy.

End result? Art is born.

I’ve been shooting cactus since 2009 on my spare time. Boy, is it worth it. Part of the journey lies in the search, like the exhilaration of finding a gem in a haystack. Music blasting, second cup of coffee savored, and and convertible top is down. Wind and dust blowing with no care in the world. Twice a year is all it takes to go back to my happy place.

I probably drive too fast on the roads in search of these guys. 115 and 25 degrees… you’d almost never notice the temperature, except for the slight chance of 18″ snow in the desert (happens every 75 years or so).

‘Leave only footprints, take only photographs.’ For 8 separate trips in Arizona, this motto stands. I once broke down 10 miles from civilization only to run to find cell phone reception and Border Patrol save my ass. That’s what life is about. No cubicle for hundreds of miles… I’ve managed dealing with that for 10 years. It’s cost me 10 lbs of fat from stress, but afforded me a luxury few have.

“Creativity is a great motivator because it makes people interested in what they are doing. Creativity gives hope that there can be a worthwhile idea. Creativity gives the possibility of some sort of achievement to everyone. Creativity makes life more fun and more interesting.” — Edward De Bono

If I was to photograph Carnegiea gigantea (Saguaro Cactus) or Yucca brevifolia (Joshua Tree) like people, they’d look like this:

All of these were shot in digital with little processing other than spot removal. For many of these, I was shooting with a strobe at full power and at f/16, so I retouched dust out.

I intended these prints to be printed sized 24″ x 36″ and mounted on metallic paper, not displayed on the Interwebs like you see here. Ug. So hard to share quality work with all the f/16 detail glory at 72 dpi.

If you were paid $10 for each image you shot for yourself, how would that change your approach to photography?