Holly Andres
Personal Background
Holly Andres was born in 1977 in Missoula Montana. One of the main takeaways from her early years, are the fact that she had nine siblings. She earned a BFA in drawing and painting from the University of Montana in 2002. Her focus switched to photography after a trip to Paris inspired her to take on video and photographic art. She pursed this idea in 2004 and earned a MFA degree in cinema studies from Portland State University. Nowadays, she teaches video and photography at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland.
Style
One of the identifying factors of Holly Andres' work is that her photographs often look like a scene from a movie. Perhaps her interest and degree in film played a role in this. Her photos resemble the times of the 60's and 70's, one of her series even being based on Nancy Drew. Her photos often include women, especially young girls exploring and discovering. Her color palette is full of bright, eye-drawing colors.
Philosophy
Andres' main topic in all of her photos is about childhood and womanhood. Her series are often based on the transition into a woman, which is why she often photos kids discovering items, putting on makeup, growing up, and so on. Her photos are also based on her own childhood memories. Through her photos, she shows metaphors about the rites of passage of growing up, and losing innocence. Her photos also show how although they might be light and cheery on the outside, the deeper meaning is darker.
Influence
Holly Andres' work has shown me some very important things. She is one of the first photographers i've seen that actually sets up scenes and tells stories with her work. I always thought that for photography, one should just take photos of how the world already is, but i think it is more appealing when you can see someones ideas through a photo. Also, i noticed on her page that she has series, in which photos come one after the next creating a story. This has inspired me to try something new and be more creative. Perhaps, setting up a scene and taking multiple photos to tell the story, not just one.
Holly Andres was born in 1977 in Missoula Montana. One of the main takeaways from her early years, are the fact that she had nine siblings. She earned a BFA in drawing and painting from the University of Montana in 2002. Her focus switched to photography after a trip to Paris inspired her to take on video and photographic art. She pursed this idea in 2004 and earned a MFA degree in cinema studies from Portland State University. Nowadays, she teaches video and photography at the Pacific Northwest College of Art in Portland.
Style
One of the identifying factors of Holly Andres' work is that her photographs often look like a scene from a movie. Perhaps her interest and degree in film played a role in this. Her photos resemble the times of the 60's and 70's, one of her series even being based on Nancy Drew. Her photos often include women, especially young girls exploring and discovering. Her color palette is full of bright, eye-drawing colors.
Philosophy
Andres' main topic in all of her photos is about childhood and womanhood. Her series are often based on the transition into a woman, which is why she often photos kids discovering items, putting on makeup, growing up, and so on. Her photos are also based on her own childhood memories. Through her photos, she shows metaphors about the rites of passage of growing up, and losing innocence. Her photos also show how although they might be light and cheery on the outside, the deeper meaning is darker.
Influence
Holly Andres' work has shown me some very important things. She is one of the first photographers i've seen that actually sets up scenes and tells stories with her work. I always thought that for photography, one should just take photos of how the world already is, but i think it is more appealing when you can see someones ideas through a photo. Also, i noticed on her page that she has series, in which photos come one after the next creating a story. This has inspired me to try something new and be more creative. Perhaps, setting up a scene and taking multiple photos to tell the story, not just one.
Sources
- http://www.hollyandres.com/zt8yyom5uojz2ugfz6umkve002agxw
- https://kochgallery.com/artists/holly-andres/
- https://www.jacksonfineart.com/artists/holly-andres/
This photo was the hardest to recreate, but I am satisfied with the results. I decided to take on the challenge of making my own moonlight, which was a struggle. Through much trial and error I managed to capture a photo that I think looks similar to Holly Andres'. With these photos, my favorite part is how so much of the frame is dark, and the one part is illuminated by beautiful moonlight.
This photo was not too difficult to take, but took the longest to edit. Holly Andres used editing and lighting that doesn't seem too complicated until one is trying to replicate it. I think her photos, especially this one, have a dreamy feel, so I tried to edit this photo to be light, and a little hazy. All in all, I am proud of how this one turned out and I think it is my best photo in this series.
Again, Holly Andres finds a way to make a seemingly picture difficult to recreate. The hardest part of this photo was trying to get the lighting just right. As one might be able to see, lighting and the shadows play a big role in her picture, so it was very important for me to do. The next part that was difficult was trying to edit the photo similar to hers. I didn't get the tones exact, but I tried my hardest to mirror the style. One think I am proud of is the positioning and how I took this photo.