Irene Tobis
photographer
A lot of vegetables. I've been taking photos of vegetables for quite a few years. They're my favorite still life subjects. Since moving to Ottawa I've been at the farmers' markets at almost every opportunity. This summer I hope to have a stall of my own, selling photos - art for kitchens and dining areas, also greeting cards - that I've taken there at that same market. I'm calling it Vegetables Forward! I'm inviting people to put vegetables forward in their lives, as I've done in mine over the past few years, with considerable improvement in my health! Website coming soon, Spring 2018: VegFwd.ca
Kitchen Art. I became a professional photographer on November 14, 2009. That was the day that several people bought some of my prints – yes, photos of vegetables – including not just friends but someone I didn’t even know. I had had my first experience printing my own photos with a series I took at the farmers’ market at Triangle Park in Austin, Texas. I produced mini-prints of the produce, and some notecards. I've always lived on the web, but I found that real ink on fancy photo paper was actually quite yummy. I exhibited them at Linda Lane Studios for the East Austin Studio Tour in November 2009.
Photo-psychotherapy. I got my first digital camera more than 20 years ago. As one of the first psychologists in the US working with Hoarding Disorder, I needed to document the process of decluttering work in my clients’ homes and offices. Those photos also proved useful, long before the TV hoarding shows, for training my staff and colleagues and for advocating for the recognition of Hoarding Disorder as diagnosis – which later was finally achieved in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM 5) in May 2013. I still take photos for therapeutic and training purposes.
Photo-activism. For a while I was a member of Texas Documentary Photographers and began to see how images can help people see things differently. My first photo to be accepted for an exhibit was for the Heart Gallery of Texas, a project that connects kids up for adoption with their parents-to-be. I still enjoy making portraits, but I especially like to document events, things that seem worthy of note, whether a birthday party, a school play rehearsal, or a political event.
Photo-fiction. When I moved to Austin in 2007 I started exploring photography as an art form. My most creative effort to date is a little “documentary fumetti” (a comic book story but with photos instead of drawings). I’m quite pleased with it, so let me know what you think!
People and places. I love taking photos of people doing things, especially when they’re enjoying themselves. I’m also intrigued by places I’m living in or traveling through. I take their photos to get to know them. I guess that's true of all subjects. I get to pour over them, for hours at a time while photo editing. It wouldn't be polite to stare that long at people in person.