Tag: Sarah Cramer Shields

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Culture

Focused group: Porchraits capture residents at a distance 

Helen (left) and Garnette (right), photographed by Eze Amos for the Cville Porch Portraits project.

Two weeks ago, Eze Amos was “bored as hell.”

Usually the photographer is running around Charlottesville at all hours, snapping candid shots of everyday life in the city—buskers, beer drinkers, sidewalk chalkers, protesters—shooting weddings, or completing assignments for this newspaper.

But with everyone staying home for social distancing, Amos and many other photographers have lost their paid gigs and the chance to work on their passion projects.

While scrolling through his phone, Amos read an article about Cara Soulia, a Needham, Massachusetts, family photographer who, in this time of quarantine, began taking pictures of families in front of their homes for a series she calls #TheFrontStepsProject.

Soulia’s work energized Amos—he couldn’t sleep that night. He just had to do this in Charlottesville, and he knew he couldn’t do it alone.

Since then, Amos and four other photographers—Tom Daly, Kristen Finn, John Robinson, and Sarah Cramer Shields—have photographed more than 200 families and individuals outside their Charlottesville-area homes for Cville Porch Portraits (@cvilleporchraits on Instagram). 

(Soulia’s work also inspired local photographer Robert Radifera, who launched a similar project to benefit the Charlottesville Community Foundation.)

Amos isn’t bored anymore, and he’s not likely to be any time soon: About two dozen requests come in every day.

There’s something uniquely lovely and intimate about making images of people outside their homes. “In photography, we often go to the pretty places, not always to the true places, or the personal spaces,” says Robinson. “Places bring something out of you, or are a reflection of what you bring in.” 

Taken separately, these images say a lot about who the subjects are as individuals. Someone chose to be photographed in her cozy bathrobe and panda bear slippers. A family posed in matching, carefully handmade Easter outfits. In one photo, kids have strewn their toys about the porch; in another, someone has arranged her flower pots just so. There are grandparents using their photo to say hello to their grandchildren.

Taken together, these images say a lot about who we are as a community.

Ranger, photographed by Tom Daly

It’s as much an “act of solidarity” as it is a fundraiser,  says Finn, an attempt “to create some visual representation of ‘we’re all in this together.’”

The project keeps these five photographers employed, and they’re splitting the profits 50-50 with the Charlottesville Emergency Relief Fund for Artists, established last month by The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative and the New City Arts Initiative, with some help from The FUNd at CACF. Already, the photographers have donated $5,000 to the relief fund and are on track to make another donation of the same size soon.

Folks can sign up for a portrait via cvilleporchportraits@gmail.com and pay what and if they can, on a sliding scale from $0 to $250. When the photographers arrive on site, they take care to maintain at least 10 feet of distance between themselves and their subjects, per CDC guidelines. “That’s what a telephoto lens is for,” says Finn with a laugh.

Finn has experienced a range of emotions during the shoots, from tearing up while talking with a woman who was recently laid off, to feeling a bit starstruck when local civil rights legend Eugene Williams contacted her for a portrait.

Whether photographing an old friend or a new acquaintance, the photographers are learning more about themselves. Robinson usually gets up close with his subjects, so the physical separation is new. For Amos, even this distance feels close—as a street photographer, he doesn’t often interact with his subjects all.

Emily, shown here with her family, is a former RN collecting PPE for the local healthcare community. Photograph by Kristen Finn

As the photographers bond with the photographed, they share these moments with the rest of the community via social media, hoping to foster a sense of connection—and some strength and comfort—despite our distance. 

“I think everything that Charlottesville has been through has us hungry for resilience, and we’ve trained and built for reciprocity and resilience,” says Robinson, noting that community leaders have worked hard to build that in the wake of summer 2017. “We all learned that we need to be there for each other, and we have to…remember to be strong, but also be tender.” 

With that in mind, Amos aims “to show what the community looks like,” to show the racial and ethnic and economic diversity of the Charlottesville area that is often overlooked or erased in the images media, businesses, tourism groups, and others choose to project. Sure, the fundraising matters, he says, but inclusion matters more. “We want everyone to feel like they are part of this, that they can be represented” in this project, in this place, in this moment in time. “This is for everyone.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the name of The FUNd at CACF, which helped provide seed money for the Charlottesville Emergency Relief Fund for Artists. We regret the error. Updated April 8, 2:37pm.

Categories
Abode Magazines

Building trust: For a Belmont farmhouse makeover, a couple gives their friends carte blanche

The kitchen and living room are the heart of the renovation. A suspended partial ceiling made of reclaimed wood defines the cozy space with the fireplace. Photo: Andrea Hubbell

Enlisting your best friends to design and manage the renovation of your home can be a risky endeavor, particularly when you encourage them to exercise creative freedom in designing what you hope will become your dream house. If you don’t like their work, can the friendship survive?

“When I’m standing at my kitchen sink, I feel like I’m at command central,” Sarah Shields says. “I can be cooking, conversing, and keeping an eye on all things from that special spot.” Photo: Andrea Hubbell

That was the question friends often asked photographer Sarah Cramer Shields and her husband, Matt Shields, a Charlottesville High School engineering teacher, when they entrusted HubbHouse founders Brian and Andrea Hubbell to remodel their 1910 farmhouse. Sarah, Matt, and their boys, Albert, 6, and Cramer, 4, bounced among four living spaces during the eight-month project, keeping up their busy lives while Brian and Andrea worked on the house.

“We knew we needed more space with two boys and two 80-pound dogs living in 1,200 square feet,” Sarah says of her family’s Belmont home, which she purchased in April of 2006. In 2015, the couple added a backyard structure to accommodate a small rental unit and Sarah’s photography studio, but they hadn’t upgraded their original house.

“We were desperate for a smart, thoughtful, beautiful, creative addition,” Sarah says. “And the only people we would ever want to do it would be our best friends. We literally told the Hubbells to do what they wanted. They know us and our lifestyle so well.”

Neatly integrated into the first floor, the back porch leaves plenty of room for grilling and socializing. Modern details like the welded-wire mesh below the railing contrast with the classic clapboard and board-and-batten siding. Photo: Andrea Hubbell

The couples’ friendship began in 2011, when Sarah and Andrea met while waiting in line at Mudhouse on the Downtown Mall. But the double “dream team” renovation didn’t begin until seven years later, and in the intervening time they grew very close.

As they started the process, the tight friendship helped, as did the Hubbells’ backgrounds. Both are trained as architects and had worked as architectural designers in Charlottesville. Before launching HubbHouse in 2016, Brian directed user experience design at a local tech firm, and Andrea worked as an architectural photographer (often for this magazine). She’s also a licensed realtor, now working for Nest Realty.

HubbHouse specializes in buying fixer-uppers to remodel and put back on the market. But Brian says he and Andrea had been “designing [the Shields’] renovation and addition in our minds for years.” They knew that the new space needed to support the Shields’ high-energy lives, including their love of hosting friends and family for birthdays, playdates, and dinner parties. “Once pencil finally hit paper, the general form of the addition came almost immediately,” Brian says.

The Hubbells knew they would lean modern instead of traditional, yet still hold on to the historical roots and framework of the charming two-story farmhouse, including the inviting front porch. “We wanted the addition to feel, at first glance, like it had always been there, but upon further scrutiny, express its own unique identity,” Brian says.

That meant, for example, leveraging the moderately sloping backyard to emphasize the sectional characteristics of the addition. This led the designers to drop the level of the new space by 18 inches and add a couple of steps, creating a pause at the connection of the two structures.

In designing the family room and kitchen space, Brian focused on areas of rest and relaxation. For example, above the large sectional sofa and modern gas fireplace, he added a carefully detailed hanging panel of reclaimed heart pine. This compressed and defined the family room without the addition of walls, which would have obstructed sight lines and hindered movement. In the kitchen, the Hubbells added a cozy breakfast nook as well as a stunning waterfall countertop island with four stools that serves as the kitchen’s gathering place and centerpiece. The Hubbells wanted the Shields to be able to cook, hang out, and enjoy casual dinners in one inviting, gorgeous area, so Brian designed the roof of the new back porch to meet the home’s original roof lines, tying together the old and the new.

Upstairs, the incredible views of the mountains meant allowing for a second-floor master suite that showcases the scenery as the sun rises. Filled with windows and light, the southeast-facing master bathroom has become a family attraction, with a double vanity designed around the couple’s differing handedness (Matt’s a lefty, Sarah a righty), large walk-in shower, and modern soaking tub that is favored by adults and kids alike.

The couples stayed in touch by group text during the renovation, checking in on little details and sharing creative ideas. They also met once a week, usually at the project site, to discuss bigger issues and keep abreast of progress.

Ultimately, after a few unexpected discoveries during construction, the renovation was complete in February 2019. “We had the best possible scenario,” Andrea says. The Shields have a stunning new home, and their best friendship is stronger than ever.

Categories
Arts

Local artist leads storytelling workshop for LGBTQ youth

Photographer and illustrator Guillermo Ubilla leads a zine-making class at the Bridge for LGBTQ youth and allies on June 11. Photo by Eze Amos

For local photographer and illustrator Guillermo Ubilla, making art feels natural. He thinks it sounds cheesy, but he says it’s what he was meant to do.

“My art is a combination of skills and experiences I’ve had,” says Ubilla. “It’s a way of expressing myself. I’m privileged to do art, so I want to do something good with it.”

In celebration of Pride Month, Ubilla joined fellow Charlottesville area photographers Jacob RG Canon, Eze Amos, Christian DeBaun, Sarah Cramer Shields and Jeff Cornejo for a group show at the Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative. Hosted in collaboration with Cville Pride, the exhibition depicts the experiences of LGBTQ people in Charlottesville using images that challenge traditional stereotypes of who and what historically constituted a family.

With these photos as a backdrop, Ubilla will lead a visual storytelling workshop for LGBTQ youth at the Bridge on June 11. Participants will create a zine by folding pieces of paper to make a booklet, and filling their creation with words, images or collages.

“It’s something they can do with their hands, and do it over and over again. It creates this unique physical storytelling device that they can walk away with,” says Ubilla.

As a McGuffey Art Center resident artist and instructor, the importance of education and activism through art resonates deeply with Ubilla. One of his favorite recent projects is a series of political illustrations he created—using a Twitter-like palette, sans-serif typography and iconography like stars, check marks and boxes, Ubilla breaks down what he calls the “overwhelming” aspects of local and regional government into “bite-sized” pieces.

Cville Pride President Amy Sarah Marshall wants Ubilla’s workshop and the photography show to give LGBTQ youth a sense of community—to provide them with “a sense of home.” She refers to Ubilla and his art as dynamic, engaging and thoughtful. Also joining the workshop will be representatives from Side by Side, a Richmond-based LGBTQ youth group with a strong Charlottesville presence.

“We’re passing the baton down and empowering youth to tell their own stories when they can feel like life is so on the margins,” Marshall says. “They don’t see their lives portrayed in mass media. They don’t hear their situations in podcasts. We’re empowering all youth to live their truth.”

Marshall remembers that while her father was welcoming when she came out, he told her that she couldn’t be a lesbian because “of what [she] looked like.”

“I felt I was diminished by someone who cared about me,” says Marshall. “He thought he was doing me a service.” Marshall tells a story of coming out to her grandparents, too, and confronting the doubt they expressed about her sexuality—how she was so young and too naïve to be sure about her sexuality.

“It’s really important to feel that adults are asking and encouraging youth to own their story,” Marshall says.

With a variety of Pride Month events open to the public throughout June, Marshall wants this month to be about celebrating pride more than ever.

“With it being summer, I feel like people’s anxieties are starting to turn back on,” she says. “I want people to see these pictures and be reminded of how brave they are to be themselves, or to come out and support others. Showing up for each other in visible and concrete ways is a powerful reminder of what good is in people’s hearts and actions.”

Categories
Arts

Photo project shows people through another lens

Lorretta Goins was the first portrait Sarah Cramer Shields took after the events of August 11 and 12, launching the project “This Is Charlottesville,” on display at VMDO Architects now through the end of 2017, and on Instagram at @thisischarlottesville. Photo by Sarah Cramer Shields

As the events of August 11 and 12 unfolded across Charlottesville, photojournalist Sarah Cramer Shields watched it happen on the news.

“I was putting two small children down for naps when it happened,” Shields says in an interview with C-VILLE. “I wanted to be on the front lines telling the stories of what was happening, but I knew that wasn’t the right place for me.”

Watching live as national and local outlets broadcast the violence, she saw “a ton of Nazi symbols, people’s heads being bashed in, people being killed. I remember thinking, That’s not our town.”

Shields wanted to show the world a different side of Charlottesville: one that embraced and celebrated its residents, people who come from all places and all walks of life.

Determined to contribute somehow, she asked herself what the community might need as it began to heal.

“I think people need to connect,” she says. “I think change only happens when we step outside our comfort zone and see and talk to people who are outside our daily paths.”

Shields, who began taking photos in middle school and turned pro after graduating from UVA in 2005, says she seeks out the human connection in all her work, whether she does it for weddings, editorials or other projects. She decided to put her skills to work documenting the people of her town and launched an ongoing project called “This Is Charlottesville.”

Just a few days after August 12, she began walking through town one day a week and asking strangers if she could photograph them. Ninety-eight percent of the time people said yes.

“For some reason, I make people really comfortable. They just pour their souls out to me,” she says. “I’ve been surprised by how much people really want to talk about things, and there really isn’t a platform to do so.”

When Shields takes photos, she asks everyone the same five questions. (She also asks her subjects to nominate up to three people to be featured in the project; her goal is to create one new profile per day.) Then she goes home, transcribes the interview and posts the highlights on Instagram and Facebook. “This is Charlottesville” has 85 profiles and counting. The response, she says, has been amazing.

“People love to hear other people’s walks of life,” she says. “You’ve got people in Hogwaller reading about the dean of the UVA medical school. People on the Downtown Mall seeing the stories of people in Friendship Court.”

Certain connections stand out, she says. Like “the Afghan father who moved here with four kids. He was looking for work but has an incredible skillset, which came across in his profile. I got emails from people who said, ‘What great skills he has, I’ll keep him in mind for jobs.’

“There’s a girl in Friendship Court who is a die hard Cavaliers fan. She’s never missed a game, but she’s never been to a game, either. Within an hour of me posting her story, 20 different people reached out to say, ‘Here, she can have my tickets to this weekend’s game.’”

Shields feels “blown away” by these experiences, which hint at the potential of her project to become an even bigger bridge within the community.

“I think we have a lot of issues in our town, our city and our state that we need to talk about,” she says. “I know this [project] is not a cure by any means.”

But as a personal response to local events, “This Is Charlottesville” allows Shields to highlight the connection she experiences every day.

Whenever she photographs someone, she waits for the moment when her subject lowers his guard. (It usually happens while people talk about something they love.)

The instant her subjects open up, she says, it reveals who they really are.

“I look for honest warmth and openness. A pure, real moment where someone is lost in themselves and they trust me to take their photo.”

That authenticity is the potent stuff that allows strangers to feel close, no matter how different their lives look on paper—or in pixels.

“I’m not some heroic problem solver,” Shields says, “but I see the main issue as the fact that we are not connecting. I don’t know how change is going to happen unless we start listening and seeing how other people live their lives.”