I flew home to Brisbane to spend Easter with my family. We are not known as a family of green thumbs, except for Farmer Andrew, though Mum and I both have a way with African Violets. Andrew gave Dad these tomato plants and they've gone a bit feral in the back garden.
When I was home the plant was in its last flowering for the season. Each morning Dad would collect the ripe tomatoes and place them on the kitchen table. How could I not photograph these little beauties?
Jillian
In 2007 I took 3 months off work to travel and to work on my website. I began my travels in Canada where I attended an International Physiotherapy Congress before flying down to Mexico. I joined a 3 week GAP trip around Guatemala, Belize and the Yucatan Peninsula. I travelled at the height of summer in June/July and boy was Mexico hot!
The image of the 3 girls was taken in the small village of San Juan La Laguna. Some of my friends commented how lucky I was to find the three girls running down the street but I admit to setting up the shot. Speaking no Spanish I used sign language and a few actions to get the girls to run towards me. They probably thought I was a crazy lady but they ran for me regardless. I was using my digital camera on that trip and when I showed the images to the girls they burst out laughing. They left arm in arm on their way to the ice cream seller, their original destination.
For those interested I was using my Nikon D-70S, 18-70mm lens, shot at f9,1/320 secs ISO 200.
Jillian
I travelled to Sri Lanka in January 2003, about 18 months before the tsunami devastated the coastline. I really enjoyed my time there, the people and most importantly, the food.
After visiting Kandy, we headed to the hills to stay on a tea plantation. On our way to Nurya Eliya we stopped at a small village where the pongal festival was taking place. It was colourful and very noisy and we ended up daubed with flour paste.
I spied this little girl watching the fun and instantly dubbed her "The Little Jewel" as she was so sweet dressed in her prettiest party frock. The photo was shot using my favourite colour film, Fuji Reala 100.
There'll be a few more images of Sri Lanka in the coming weeks,
Jillian
When I started photography I was only 12 years old so of course my first camera was a film camera, a little agfamatic. I only began getting my film scanned when I started doing wedding photography in 2003. That means all my travel photography images taken prior to 2004 are stored as negatives in archival sleeves. I primarily shot film until about 3 years ago and only changed because my clients were asking for digital imagery coupled with the difficulties involved in getting film developed.
I still use black and white film at weddings and whenever I travel I always carry a few rolls of film with me. Last year I had some of my older film images scanned but have never posted them to my blog, although some of the black and white images do appear on my website. I've decided to do a Friday Favourite feature, where I pull out some of my favourite images, primarily travel and primarily shot on film.
I chose this photo which I shot early one morning in 1999 whilst visiting my brother who was living and studying in Cambridge. I don't have the negatives with me but I'm pretty sure I was shooting Ilford Delta 400 at the time. It's always been one of my favourite images. I love the position of the punts and the reflection of the chimneys in the corner of the image. During my last year studying photography at the Sydney Institute, I had to submit a portfolio of 10 images for review. My portfolio had the theme of places and faces and featured a combination of my travel and wedding images. This was one of the images I submitted.
My travel images are available for puchase either as prints or on canvas. Just email me info@jillianleiboff.com for sizes and pricing,
Jillian
One of my favourite brides from 2008 is celebrating a special birthday on April 6 so I've attached one of my favourite black and white film images from her wedding day.
Happy Birthday Mona,
Jillian
