documentographer photo blog

Hello, welcome! I'm Catherine Farquharson. I'm a professional photographer, using photography as a way to expand, connect and create.

For my clients and subjects, this means what we do is real, and fun. I shoot creative editorial portraits for publications, sometimes of well-known names like Clare Danes and Sarah Slean. I also work with emerging artists and people-of-note to-be, as we develop branding, image and feelings that photos can portray and evoke through their portraits.

As a documentarian, I tell photo-stories from all over the world, including the recent first interracial prom in Charleston, Mississippi, where my photos were published in Oprah's magazine, the National Post, NPR.com, Seventeen magazine and more.

I especially revel in covering important life experiences, including weddings, relationships, and natural lifestyle portraits. Those moments and events are what we remember and hold onto, and I am honoured by the opportunity for my photos to be the touchstone for those memories and feelings.

For me, photography of people is the capturing of their essence, and sharing back what I saw and felt. Wherever, and whomever they are. Everywhere and anywhere. Connecting, understanding and sharing.

“the best camera is the one that’s with you”

Monday, July 19, 2010 Posted in Engagement Sessions

This is what Chase Jarvis says, making his iPhone photos so famous recently. I admired this saying since I heard it, never thought much of it because the camera that is with me is always the Canon 5D mark ii (AKA the Best Camera). This weekend I brought my trusty camera to a cottage for an engagement shoot. My clients/now friends invited me to join them with their close friends to enjoy the weekend.

When shoot time rolled around on Saturday afternoon, I turned on my camera, only to find it completely malfunctioning. It was shaking and clicking and flashing “Error! Error!” all on its own, even when I had the switch to Off. This was disturbing, needless to say. At weddings I always have a second camera with me, but on engagement shoots, I haven’t — until now, that is! (Don’t worry Jer and Suz, I’ll have at least 8 cameras at your wedding!!)

We were so disappointed. The shoot seemed to be a bust. Oh, and they looked so good, they needed to be photographed!

It was then that we figured all was not entirely lost. One friend had a point and shoot camera. I thought, just for fun, even if we re-take the photos another time, let’s take the shots today anyway. It’s not the camera that takes the photos, it’s the photographer and the subjects. So, if that’s true, the camera shouldn’t matter. Technically. So, I picked up this camera that I could not control in any way — not the settings, the exposure, the shutter speed, nothing, and we started out. It was an experiment. What can we do, here? Can this work?

And this is what we did. Grand success, don’t you think?!

JerSuz-1-2 JerSuz-3 JerSuz-2 JerSuz-7 JerSuz-4 JerSuz-5 JerSuz-6 JerSuz-1-3 Next engagement shoot I’m taking with my iPhone. Move over, Chase! Just kidding.