Three by Three: Guest Artists in Focus

QUESTION 2.    Your scenes are carefully constructed but grounded in real environments. How do you decide what must be physically built versus what you let the location contribute on its own?

• ANSWER 2.     The environment is sometimes the spark of the whole concept. I've not been scared to create what I must for the realness. For me, the creator, it's like being able to step into that world and just capture it as it is, and that's it's own magic, and allows me to capture it as I feel I need to, without thinking about post-production or things I should fix "later." It's important for the models as well, to create a reality for them to act accordingly and "become" the character. Since I typically photograph my friends and not actual actors or trained models, it's more immersive for them and fun for the whole crew to step into this "world."
  
  Often, there are things I dream up that just don't exist. Like the twelve-foot Christmas Tree dress. You can't find that on your typical Walmart run, so it takes a giant ladder, chicken wire, offering to trim your neighbor's trees for free, a really great friend who made a crown that's willing to brave the cold, and timing it for a November day with the first snowfall of the year. The way I see it, if the locations I can access do not provide it, it must be built, not just for authenticity, and not just to satisfy my mental itch, but because the world-building and story-building matter to the whole thing.

Emily Kramer
Fine Art Photographer

BIO:    Emily Kramer is a fine art photographer in Central Minnesota. For her, it has always been about telling a great story. Each piece serves as a window into a world that transcends the everyday, filled with wonder, romance, and a touch of drama.

Emily’s journey began at age nine, with neighborhood plays and making costumes by hand. That grew into a love for costume and fashion design, where she translated narratives into award-winning designs gracing venues from New York Fashion Week, SCAD, FIT, and the Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC, music videos, and magazines.

Photography became her next medium, an art form where she wields light, shadow, real-life props, costumes she made, and great locations to capture scenes with a timeless quality. She invites the viewer into these carefully crafted stories, intentionally avoiding the conveniences of heavy digital manipulation and AI.

Additionally, she hosts an arts podcast titled The Modern Romantic, where she features a variety of modern artists.


WEBSITE:    EmilyKramer.art

QUESTION 3.    Because you commit to hands-on methods from start to finish, mistakes and limitations are inevitable. What kinds of imperfections do you now welcome because they make the final image stronger?

• ANSWER 3.     Imperfections are invited to the party! They are part of life, so my capturing them as part of the art is very much just that - part of life. Imperfections give the art a level of grounding. Much of what I capture has a level of fantasy to it, so usually I choose to leave imperfections to make the fantasy more real. I want my audience to see clearly that I didn't digitally remove the fire ant hill on the ground behind the horse. That makes it more believable. It makes this whole attainable world you can step into mentally because it is real.

QUESTION 1.    You take on the roles of designer, costumer, and photographer yourself. At what stage does an image truly begin for you - with a concept, a location, a costume, or a person?

• ANSWER 1.    It is always different! One secret is to be open-minded. Going out in the backyard for a photo or two with no plan can turn into something amazing! Planning all summer for a fall photoshoot with twelve friends can turn out incredible, too. Going with the flow is key. I never know where a photoshoot is going to take me. For instance, "The Tempest" photo with the yellow-dressed rider and the horse was taken when the plan was to photograph my friend James in a British-style suit and a horse. Danielle was our animal handler that day. Being a horse lover, she had asked if we could also grab a couple of shots of her, too. As luck would have it, I had just finished this yellow dress, and it had never been photographed before. So I brought it, and after we were done with James, we grabbed a few shots of Danielle, and it kind of changed the game for me that day. That image has been seen by more people than we ever planned. It created a whole new source of inspiration in my head. We also learned a lot about getting a horse used to fabric floating in the air.

The Tempest - Models: Danielle Gaskins and Jolt

All copyright and reproduction rights are reserved by Emily Kramer.
Artwork may not be reproduced in any form without the artist's express written permission.

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The Spirit of Christmas - Model: Brenna Shaffner

Ophelia - Model: Brenna Shaffner