Momenta welcomes this week’s guestagrammer, Rebecca Keyes!

Age:
48

Current job:
Photographer

Current location:
San Francisco

Website:
www.rebeccakeyes.com

Connection to Momenta:

I attended a 5-day workshop in Portland 2016

 @ Rebecca Keyes  At Sisters of the Road, each person working a station is responsible for showing the next person signed up what they need to do — from plating and portion control, to expediting the tickets. People can sign up to work for 15 mins in exchange for one free healthy balanced meal and drink.  

Tell us about your journey as an image-maker and how you got to where you are today.

I began working with images twenty years ago — not as a photographer at first, but in the context of print production. I worked with pre-press vendors and printers involved in advertising. I have a good eye for color and have done literally hundreds of press checks (balancing/tweaking color) for literally billions of printed products (magazines, catalogs, POP and other marketing vehicles). All that work lured me behind the camera not for commercial but more for storytelling.

[caption id="attachment_8143" align="alignnone" width="666"]@ Rebecca Keyes  Sometimes the person with the least to give will give you the most. Daisy was the first person to speak with me. It was like we were old friends catching up. She asked if I wanted any of her beans or rice. I noticed she really likes a lot of butter. At Sisters of the Road, people can sign up to work for 15 mins in exchange for one free healthy balanced meal and drink.  

What stories or issues are you most passionate about covering?

I have read about how in some cultures albino people are shunned, outcasts … and in some horrible cases mutilated and even murdered. There are small colonies (think orphanage in Uganda) where albino people live together apart from others. I’d like to cover this story, shine light on it, help reveal some of the hardship, unfairness, mystical beliefs, and beauty too, surrounding these people.

@ Rebecca Keyes No one is asked for their experience. No one is asked why they are there. There are no unions, no pay scale, no gender income inequality, no seniority, no tough interview questions, no office views — the only question is, “what is your name, and let me show you what to do”. There is a certain dignity that is given to each person.   

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Where do you look for inspiration for your work: books, movies, authors, photographers, art, certain people?

Every day I look at images other photographers have made. It’s so easy online to search, stalk, follow your nose or otherwise stumble on great work. I especially like the grit, street photography: images that are ‘real’. And images that are like paragraphs, where there is so much to read in an image. That is what I aspire my images to do. 

@ Rebecca Keyes  Portland has several houseless camps where the homeless have built their own shelter city and community. Rules have to be respected by each person or they are kicked out of the camp. Some of the camps are supported by local city officials and are provided portapotties and weekly clean up services. 

What social media or news feeds do you follow regularly?

I regularly follow instagram, facebook and NPR for potential story ideas

What is one passion you have outside of photography that might come as a surprise to our readers?

I have a passion for 80’s rock-and-roll music and can “name that tune” faster than most people! I don’t want to reveal too much about my age but I did spend some time involved in the ‘club scene’ in LA during that decade.

@ Rebecca Keyes At the Sisters of the Road, community members that signed up for prep work start to show up around 8am. People can sign up to work for 15 mins in exchange for one free healthy balanced meal and drink.[/caption]

What can we expect to see this week from your guestagramming on our Momenta Instagram account?

I plan to share a few images from the assignment that brought us together; that is, for Sisters of the Road in Portland. And I plan to draw from other work I’ve done, as well, but unify with a thread — portraiture — interesting faces!

#seizethemomenta, and follow @momentaworkshops on Instagram to see Rebecca‘s great work!