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July 21, 2005
The Apprenticeship of Kat Caverly
1976-1986
When we last left, Kat Caverly had begun her career in photography.
It wasn't as glamorous as it sounds.
As a commercial & corporate photographer, she had specific assignments - including portrait works. While the job of a portrait photographer is to capture more than the physical likeness of a person, to capture & illustrate their character as well, these portraits were to illuminate the “strong, capable, wise” leader, and shadow their other attributes. This assignment work didn't allow Kat a way to express anything more (or less) than as directed.
These years of working on assignments allowed her to use her training as a behavioral scientist to get people to relax in front of a camera. Kat herself says “I think that the most important element in portrait photography is the ability to relax a person in front of the camera. Over the course of my career I heard being photographed be compared to "going to the dentist" more than just a few times. So the one and only thing that I want my subjects to be thinking about is BREATHING. I will do the rest.”
As a fashion photographer, Kat was allowed to express feelings & meanings, not merely show what things look like. But this too was limited to the assignment. None of this work was allowing to her to use photography to illuminate what she wanted or what she saw in the people she worked with. But she had to pay bills.
At this time Kat also worked as a bartender. It doesn't take a behavioral scientist to tell you that working as a bartender is also not glamorous as it sounds...
Becoming frustrated by seeing the worst of people as a bartender, and having a limited focus as a corporate photographer, Kat Caverly would take to the streets...
excerpts from The Biography by DEANNA DAHLSAD
Posted by photocartoonist at July 21, 2005 10:58 PM