12th Annual Palo Alto Weekly Photo Contest
Third Place, Peninsula People
"Mom's Hat"
By Jennifer Mutz
About Jennifer Mutz
Although the archetypal mother can think of no other more beautiful subject than her own child, in Jennifer Mutz's case, she couldn't have been more right. It was a beautiful summer day when her 3-year-old daughter was sitting in the sun in her mother's hat, innocently enjoying the summer heat. "When I looked at her wearing my hat, I saw a picture in front of me," said Mutz. In particular, she liked the way the light filtered through the hat onto her child's face.
Mutz, ironically, was in the midst of a basic photography
class through the Palo Alto Arts Center. The picture was her
first shot taken with a 35mm camera, and appeared on her first
roll of black and white film. Mutz's interest in portrait photography,
or social photography, was mostly motivated by the search for
the story behind the photograph.
"The life, where you came from, and in social photography, what's the story
the photographer is trying to tell about a particular social movement," she
said.
Although Mutz was deeply interested in these photographs, she had never picked
up a camera until that summer.
A graduate of Stanford, Mutz was involved in high-tech marketing until she stopped working to become a full-time mother. She has been living in Palo Alto for the last eight years.
-- Miriam Boon
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