My photography has helped me to see the beauty of women beyond the stereotypes offered us by media and marketers. The camera finds beauty and mystery, even if the eye sometimes misses it. I empathize with women and the pressure they are under to look a certain way. Kelly Nolan is one of my favorite photographic subjects in Cambridge, she is both beautiful and radiant, she knows who she is and is proud of who she is.
It is always remarkable to see her work – she works alone (there is a cook) and is bartender, busperson, waitress in a crowded bar and restaurant, Foggy Notions, known locally as “The Bog.”
Kelly is gracious, patient, and steady when many people would be hard pressed to cope. No matter how crowded or frantic the restaurant and bar is, Kelly always stays the same, she appears quickly, takes orders brings the food, checks on things, brings the check.
It doesn’t matter if there are 20 people there or 100.
Photographing her is always a challenge, she is always busy, always moving, she is happy to be photographed but never stops working long enough for me to get set or take the photo I want. Good training for me, I suppose.
I brought my new portrait lens, a used Zeiss 85 mm manual focus lens that has challenged me to pay closer attention to light and settings. I wanted Kelly to be one of my first portraits. The Canon lens I wanted would have done a lot of thinking for me. But this lens has no automatic focus for dicey light, and has already brought me some remarkable photographs.
Still, I wasn’t sure I got a good shot tonight, it was getting dark, the bar was crowded, Kelly never stopped moving, she never actually poses. Fortunately, her smile is so natural she doesn’t need to get set. I am learning to scramble and make some lucky guesses about focus and light.
I was surprised when I got home and looked at the photos. I got two pictures I really liked, the one above, the Kelly you and I know, and the one below, which revealed another side of her, as photographs often do.
The photograph (below) was exotic, sensual, moody, it evoked Casablanca more than my lovely little town of Cambridge. It showed a new side of Kelly, a quiet and introspective. A moon face, like a full moon, powerful and evocative.
Kelly is always happy and even, my new lens picked up something inside of her that allows her to be that way. I’m excited to be taking more photos of her, as long as she will let me. The crowd at the bar, looking at me suspiciously at first, are into it now. I didn’t set foot in the Bog for the first 15 years I lived here, I thought they might not welcome me. Another lesson in judging.
They cheer me on now, seem grateful. A lot of them see photos of Kelly on the blog. “Hey,” said one of the men drinking, “you’re the photographer guy taking all those photos of Kelly. Great,” he said, slapping me on the back. Thanks Kelly, for putting up with me.
