Los Angeles-based Sara Jane Boyers returned to a fine art photography practice after successful careers in the music & publishing industries.. Her interest is the American story, searching for presence and social meaning in everyday perspectives that challenge common perception.
A print from DETROIT:DEFINITION, her long-term project on her birth city, was exhibited at the Venice Biennale/Architecture2016. Other Detroit prints were included in China’s 3rd Annual Exhibition of Industrial Photography/2019. Her most current work is THE GHOSTLIGHT PROJECT, a photographic essay & book on live performance venues, dark during the pandemic. Other projects include FINDING CHINATOWN: AN AMERICAN STORY and GRIDLOCK, photographs shot with her little Leica D-Lux while stuck in traffic.
Boyers’ work is exhibited, published in major media and collected in public and private collections internationally.LIFE DOESN’T FRIGHTEN ME, pairing Jean-Michel Basquiat’s art with a 1978 Maya Angelou poem, was released in 2018 by Abrams Books. Other books: O BEAUTIFUL FOR SPACIOUS SKIES, pairing the work of Wayne Thiebaud & Katharine Lee Bates, and TEEN POWER POLITICS: MAKE YOURSELF HEARD.
website: sarajaneboyers.com
EQUIPMENT
- Canon
Canon 5D Mark IV or a Canon 5D Mark III (backup or unless I am doing timed exposures and use both)
For architectural-type work, such as the exhibiting image:
Canon TS_E 24mm. 1:3.5 L II (Manual focus)
OR when image is dark and difficult to focus
Canon EF 16-35mm 1:28 L II
For additional work and/or detail:
Canon EF 85mm 1:1.2L II
Canon EF 100mm 1:2.8 L
Canon EF 70-200 1:2.8 L
Canon EF 24-70mm :2.8 L
With the zoom lenses (which I rarely use), I might attach a Canon extender EF 1.4x II
When I travel for work I may only carry the 85 mm, the TS-E 24mm and the little Leica (below). They are surprisingly adaptable and I have always loved the 85! That said, I might add in the 24-70mm zoom
- Leica backup:
I always carry a little Leica D-Lux Type 109 that I keep on manual operation, but with auto focus. It has a square format option that I will use for a certain type of image. Over 400 ISO, I am not happy with images but below, I have printed an entire show at 24×36″
- iphone 14– From time to time I will put my iphone14 on raw to take an image when I am without all cameras (I usually carry the little Leica with me) and I am often pleasantly surprise by the images I get. With a Photoshop Plug in, at times they will print well up to around 16×20.
- Tripod – a heavy one if in LA or near – Manfrotto 410
if flying, a lighter, compact one for travel
