Nancy Medwell Photography

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What I offer

Photo sessions

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My motivation as a photographer comes from meeting people right where they are, at a given hour, on a given day. Photo sessions last about an hour and a half, and most often take place in the comfort of a client’s home or in the yard in natural light so everyone feels at ease. Rather than simply capturing a fixed portrait, I wait for an authentic connection that is visible, tangible–an individual or families’ pure joy or sorrow or love. Through acceptance, observation, listening and laughter, even the most chaotic situations result in an experience conducive to moments of deep connection, allowing us to create beautiful images together.

My photos are not about me and my art, and they are not about perfection. They are about people connecting in authentic ways. They are my gift to the people I work with, a touchstone for tomorrow.

I would love to speak with you personally to share more about my work and to arrange a session for you and your family. Contact

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My prints

Gelatin and Resin-coated Prints

I continue to be a proponent of using film and hand-creating custom darkroom prints. All of my photographs are made by my husband, Carlo, who uses the finest quality archival papers. Carlo and I offer two types of prints: Gelatin-silver prints and resin-coated prints.

Gelatin-silver prints are created using thick, natural fiber papers coated with light-sensitive silver halide crystals. Museum quality gelatin-silver paper, more commonly called fiber paper, is by far the most refined photographic medium to the touch and to the eyes. When placed side-by-side with contemporary digital prints, fiber paper prints have a noticeably richer image with incredible tonal depth and warmth. It takes a considerable amount of time and patience to hand craft portraits this way, much like painting on canvas, but the result is extraordinary. And, most importantly, each piece will last forever.

Resin-coated prints are also individually hand-processed in the darkroom, but they are less time-consuming and labor intensive to create. This makes them a more affordable option for clients. The print paper fibers are coated with a water-resistant resin that absorbs less moisture than conventional uncoated papers. This shortens processing times considerably. The surface of resin–coated papers has a characteristic glossy look when compared to uncoated papers, and the final print is more flexible and resistant to tears, kinks, and abrasions. RC prints are not as elegant as gelatin-silver prints, but they have a depth in contrast and tonality that makes them a better alternative to commercial digital prints.

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In our darkroom

My husband, Carlo, knows how to read a beautiful photograph before it is born (view his web site at www.cmeincolors.com). He believes within each negative is a poem written backward that needs to be gently turned inside out. After projecting a soon-to-be image on a paperless easel, he makes decisions about which filters are needed, where to dodge, where to burn. Then with a practiced rhythm, he carefully times exposures, perfects contrasts, and adds or takes away brilliance from the paper’s surface until a visual metaphor of your beauty appears.

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My book ~ Eternal Moments

Eternal Moments is a collection of fifty of my most beautiful black and white portraits combined with personal narratives that capture the essence of loving and caring relationships at all ages and stages of life. Portraits of our families, parents and grandparents are a powerful way to honor those we love while they are with us. Each print captures a story that can strengthen our sense of identity, helping us understand more about who we are. These visual blessings also become a treasured legacy that remind our children and grandchildren of their deep roots and assure them of their connection to a sustaining love. Read / View more

Endorsements

The photographs of Nancy Medwell have a poignant, piercing, human directness and bring tenderly home to us the great central truths of human life-love, loss, passion, humor, and the never-ending need for deeper soul connection. They are also unobtrusively and unpretentiously sacred, and reveal that ordinary life, when viewed from love, is a fountain of miracle.
ANDREW HARVEY, (author of The Hope-A Guide to Sacred Activism and The Way of Passion, A celebration of Rumi) Read more

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