When Melanie is not shooting weddings and lifestyle events for her photography business, Fiander Foto, she splits her time teaching photography to college students and shooting her own personal projects. Melanie’s photographic work falls between the editorial and fine art genres; often depicting a story or a timeline. She often refers to her work as "documentary" but essentially, enjoys being a visual story teller.
This photo essay is titled Like Father, Like Son and is comprised of photographs I took of my husband, James West, and father-in-law, Blake West. These two men have worked together on and off as deep-sea fishermen for several decades in Bermuda. Their ability to work together both on the water and on land makes them a unique and well-respected father/son fishing duo. While making a living off of the ocean, they maintain a conservative approach towards fishing. In attempts to understand the minds of their fish, Blake and James move as the fish do. Father and Son are up well before the morning light to assess the weather and seek out blue water. My photographs offer a “behind the scenes” look at Blake’s and James’ day-to-day life.
This photo essay is titled Aunt Mary and was shot at my great aunt’s house in Brooklyn, New York, in October of this year. The underlying story is about my Aunt Mary, age 91 and the matriarch of our family, who is suffering from Dementia. Despite her illness, during my visit I viewed our conversations and interactions with each other to be slower, but still intact as it once was a year ago – five years ago – ten years ago. I’ve included photographs that show objects from her home and her surrounding spaces to give the viewer a sense of location, time, culture, and lifestyle. The sequence starts out with light and bright images and moves toward darker ones; a metaphor for her days. Aunt Mary’s mornings are sunny and clear, yet as the day moves on, she becomes cloudy and confused.
I hosted, curated, and participated in my first short film festival, the Fiander Film Festival. The festival was held in NW Washington D.C. at The Dunes and featured works by artists from Bermuda, England, Italy, and the United States. A wide range of genres were included in the festival: art, documentary, reality, comedy, and drama. Overall, the chosen films examine the idea of human grown and the human connection. The festival took place Saturday, February 25th from 8:00 – 11:30pm... four years ago. On the 5th anniversary of the festival - February 25th, 2017 - I'm interested to put together a second one. Deadline for submission to be November 20, 2016. The sequel will be held online; entries will be sent in and screened by FilmFreeway.com. (Stay tuned for those details!)