Jennifer Shaw and her beautiful photographs remind us about being part of a community, of a family. Hurricane Story is the first work I saw from Jennifer, and not only is it an important story, set during the storm of Katrina, but it is a love story, filled with family, commitment and endurance. Beautifully done, colorful and engaging, I was immediately a fan of Jennifer and her work. As part of the photographic community, she is part of PhotoNola. Her commitment to her fellow photographers is evident in producing one of the best events in the country. Small, but mighty, PhotoNola has become the portfolio review to be part of.

This series, The Space Between, is a soft, warm, emotional body of work, opening all of us up to the world in which she lives in. Giving us a view of her world, memories for all of us to share.

After Isaac

The Space Between

I am photographing my life. It is as simple and complex as that. Presently my life is overrun by exquisite little creatures known as children. I document them in their natural habitats, from city playgrounds to lazy rivers, meanwhile stealing sidelong glances at the details of those environments.

I work from a place of intimacy and intuition, rendering moments as they unfold to create an introspective narrative. The images grasp at the intangible, like a memory of youth, or the dark tunnel vision of a dream. Through the camera’s lens I am transported to the world of childhood, traversing the spaces between shadow and light, delight and disquiet, memories and reality.

Pigeon

Belly

About Jennifer Shaw –

Jennifer Shaw grew up in Milwaukee, earned a BFA in photography at the Rhode Island School of Design, then moved to New Orleans in pursuit of the artists life. Her photographs have been featured in B&W, American Photo, Shots, Light Leaks, The Sun, and Oxford American magazines, and online publications including NPR, Fraction Magazine, One One Thousand, Lenscratch, and Brain Pickings. She has been published in and two recent monographs: Hurricane Story (Chin Music Press, 2011), and Nature/Nurture (North Light Press, 2012). Her work is exhibited widely and held in collections, including the New Orleans Museum of Art, the Ogden Museum of Southern Art, and the Museum of Fine Arts Houston.

Mason with a Towel

Shaw teaches the disappearing art of darkroom photography at the Louise S. McGehee School and directs the annual PhotoNOLA festival, in addition to chasing after two young sons.

Back Door

For more information, or to see more of her beautiful work,  please log onto Jennifer’s website.