Interview with the Artist
Meet Becky Roberts, a Philadelphia-based, ‘up and coming’ photographer, specializing in the young and the vibrant. Her photos, nearly always outdoors, ooze sunshine and exude a thrill for adventure and life. This excitement is showcased throughout her diverse settings and models. She, along with her shots, seemingly, cannot be contained. I’ve asked Becky to provide some insight into her process and the inspiration behind some of her most uniquely enthralling photos.
Photography by Becky Roberts
This was taken right before Cyrus said: “I do.” He wears his whole heart on his sleeve, he had been crying the entire day. I feel like this captures his excitement and the intensity of all his emotions at that moment.
Becky spends the most important days of someone’s life with them. She’s not just an onlooker but becomes personally invested. Each photo she showed me she had another story, one that always felt very personal, about not only to the people or the moment she was photographing but herself as well. Being behind the camera she searches through each moment in order to find the complex, the beautiful, and the most genuine.
She uses a Canon 70D, mainly shooting with a 50 millimeter, barring any group shot. She says she tries to capture as much as she can and does some of the heavier lifting throughout the editing process. Sheepishly and a touch ashamed she admitted in hushed tones that she never deletes any of her photos. Suddenly, it made a lot of sense why her computer’s “connection” was crawling as she tried to send me her shots. During editing, she uses mainly Lightroom and VSCO presets, in which she sticks to roughly the same method each time. She says she’s still developing her “style,” but is as consistent as she can be.
I think everyone is always in the process of developing their look, that’s just a part of life. [I’m] always learning and changing, but I do strive for consistency in my pieces.
I think she succeeds. If not always in style, her content has a very clear concentration and emotion behind and within it.
Photography by Becky Roberts
I moved to California for school where I met Joel. We both chose to study abroad in Israel for a semester. This is where he met his future wife, Melissa. She was from the east coast, he was from the west and somehow found each other in Israel. I’ve been there since the beginning of their relationship and they chose me to photograph the whole thing, to capture all of the momentous occasions in their lives.
Photography by Becky Roberts
I definitely thrive during weddings. It’s a great opportunity for me to do everything I love. I love doing my stylized photo shoots, but my real passion usually lies in candid shots. Obviously doing a wedding you get to do both. More than that though, I love the rush and the pressure that’s on me during a wedding. The fact that if you mess it up, it’s not just that you had a bad day at work, but you’ve also ruined this couple’s physical representation of, in theory, the best day of their lives. Then the feeling you get when you don’t mess it up when you get through this day, and you’ve captured the essence of it, the joy, the anxiety, and they get to relive all of that when you deliver the photos. It’s amazing.
Photography by Becky Roberts
Becky describes her passion for photography as a passion for capturing moments. These moments encapsulate not only the joy found in between life’s surprises and expectations, but the diverse struggles each of these moments might be born out of. This photo caught my eye and I immediately started gushing over it. She looked up at me surprised and delighted, to say that it is her favorite moment she has captured throughout her entire career. She begins the story,
When I first met Jess she booked me for a birthday shoot. Her son was turning one. A few months later she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Six radiation treatments and a mastectomy later she found she was finally cancer-free. This is when I shot this celebratory photo. This woman is so strong. Being able to capture this moment with her and her two adorable children was honestly priceless. Breast cancer is only one of the many battles she has fought and won in her life. This was triumphant and joyful. Jess has been so open and transparent about her journey. It was genuinely empowering to be able to give her something visual to help share her story and remember everything she’s gone through and how far she has come.
Becky received her first camera for her 16th birthday. She was just interested, she says, in being able to wander around taking pictures, and proceeded to snap nature shots, landscapes, and animals, until her friend asked her to do a photoshoot. That month she did three more photoshoots and discovered what she loves now about photography. She says,
Photographing people is so different. I love being able to capture the emotion only really found in candid shots. They freeze a moment. When I’m shooting stills I feel like it’s a moment already frozen, it becomes an object to me. There’s definitely beauty in that but in candid shots, you freeze a moment. You can capture an emotion or amplify a minute thought that’s gone in the blink of an eye. It’s more dramatic, somehow.
Do you think, while being more dramatic, it’s also a little more honest?
I think so… It takes a split second and it allows you to see every angle and every layer. You take something so fleeting and make it stand still so that you can actually focus and take it all in. You can see so much more in these shots than you’d ever be able to absorb in real life.
