The year 2016 brought with it an earth-shattering personal experience that left Penelope James deeply devastated. That year, whenever she needed to clear her head, Penelope would set out on a walk, iPhone in hand, taking pictures of anything that caught her eye along the way. Eventually, she realized that when she was taking and editing photos, her mind felt completely peaceful. It was the only time she felt that kind of calm.
It was no grand revelation that Penelope had creative leanings. She’d had various creative outlets over the years and had always had an appreciation for photography as a viewer, especially photography that captured the daily life of times and places she was unfamiliar with. What was surprising to her though, was the fact that she might find a way to express herself through the medium. As she posted her photos to social media, the feedback from her friends was resoundingly positive. So much so, that a friend encouraged her to buy a “real” camera.
Penelope says, “I thought, I don’t know how to operate a camera, but you know what? I’m going to do it.” So, she went out and invested in a camera, and she loved it from the get-go. Not that the learning curve was always easy. Early on, Penelope went to Austin to meet up with a photographer friend who could show her the ropes. He spent the day with Penelope and gave her plenty of solid tips, but one tip in particular would help her get comfortable with her camera. He said, “Put your camera in manual and don’t take it out. Then, take a ton of really, really bad photos.” And that’s exactly what she did. Penelope would spend weeks working solely on ISO, or aperture, until she could capture the mood or feeling she wanted in an image.
The Making of a Rule-Breaker
Something that stands out about Penelope’s photography is the uniqueness of it. In this modern, perpetually connected, algorithm-driven world, it’s become increasingly rare to see work that is as distinctive as hers. It’s extremely refreshing.
Penelope explains it this way, “When you get knocked down to nothing and you have to rebuild, you can often feel lost and disconnected. So, when I started with photography, I purposely stayed away from rules, avoiding anyone else’s ideas of what or who I should be, or even who or what I should be photographing.” By exploring photography during such a raw time in her life, with an aversion to the “rules” and no real expectations of what would come of it, Penelope was able to create in a pure, unaffected way, a way that reflected who she is. She says the whole experience helped her to discover herself, to more fully understand the person she always was.
One way Penelope breaks the rules (that we love) is by not “niching down” her work. As you peruse her website, you’ll see all kinds of photography from street and nature to self-portraits and travel scenes. There’s props and poetry and just generally a lot of things you wouldn’t expect from a “street photographer.” And that’s because Penelope’s work is a reflection of Penelope as a person. She writes, “Just as I am ever-changing, so too is my work. It’s eclectic and varied. Evolving. Some stages better than others but all working together to discover self.”
Penelope admits that it was a challenge putting together such a varied portfolio. Carefully curating and sequencing each gallery often brought her to tears, but the results speak for themselves. Penelope has managed to stay true to herself, and she’s had the courage to open herself up to others in a genuine way.
Art = Connection
“I think, ultimately, art is connecting us to other people. When we express ourselves in an open way, we connect with people on a human level. We can feel so isolated in the things we experience, but I don’t think any of us really experience anything super unique,” relates Penelope. By being genuine in the things she creates, she allows for connection. It’s what makes people relate to her work, particularly her self-portraits.
Penelope started experimenting with self-portraiture during the pandemic, as many photographers did. It was an ideal time for it. “When you’re not seeing people day to day, face to face, you lose that inhibition that comes with thinking, “What are people going to think of me?” You would post photos on Facebook, but you weren’t going to see your Facebook friends the next day and have them ask about them. So, I just had all this freedom.” With freedom to experiment, Penelope came up with all kinds of dreamy self-portraits, many of which feature her floating away on clouds. Those initial experiments were a blast. Penelope had no remote, so she would assemble her backdrop, hit the 10 second timer on her iPhone and run into place. She ran, she fell, she laughed, she failed, she succeeded. It was the perfect way to pass the extra pandemic time she had on her hands.
The surreal theme of those initial portraits continues to appear, even in her more recent work. One example is a photo called “Daliesque Dreams.” During a trip to Lake Waco Wetlands, Penelope saw a tree that looked like it was straight out of a Dali painting. She took a photo, and then wondered how she could turn the scene into something even more surreal. At home, she draped herself over a hammock stand and took photos and then merged the two images together. It was perfect.
Sometimes, Penelope’s inspiration comes from music. One of her favorite self-portraits was inspired by the Tom Waits song “Tango Til They’re Sore.” There’s a line that says, “Let me fall out of the window with confetti in my hair.” Penelope thought it was a fantastic image so she set out to capture it. The confetti element ended up not working out (although it did leave its mark on her living room for months thereafter) but the end result was exactly what she had in mind.
(Finally) Allowed to Take Up Space
Penelope says she’s always been a people pleaser, and never really felt comfortable taking up space. But that’s been steadily changing since she started expressing herself through photography. She says, “I just realized that if you’re just pleasing people all the time, you’re not really showing anyone who you really are anyway.” It’s still hard for her to open up at times, but she notes, “ultimately, I’m always glad I shared, because the feedback I get from the people who do connect to it is so powerful. People need to see that very human aspect of other people because we all have ideas in our head of who a person is and the kind of life they’re living, but it’s important to know that life is really hard for all of us sometimes. So, once I share, it’s shared. I don’t go back.”
Many people have used photography as a means of self-discovery, but Penelope has taken things a step further. The clarity with which she sees herself through the lens of a camera is undeniable, but her willingness to open up and share such an intimate view of herself is what I find truly admirable. May we all be as open to seeing and sharing ourselves with the people around us, in whatever way the creative muse moves us to.
