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Photographer Spotlight with Emma K Alexandra
Meet Emma K Alexandra, a Washington, DC-based photographer whose thoughtful, compelling work has caught our eye. Though she calls herself an amateur, her lens tells a deeply professional story—one thoughtful shot at a time.
Even though Emma had a pause in her photography journey, she returned in 2021 with determination. She started her next attempt at picking up the hobby this time with a Sigma DP2 Quattro in hand. Emma said, “I love that camera. It’s so simple and captures beautiful photos when it’s in its element. Eventually, I felt limited by it, got a Fujifilm X-T1 and the rest is history. I think I’m here to stay now!”
Styles and scenery
When asked about her preferences in photographic styles, Emma doesn’t fully consider her work to fit in one box. “ I always struggle with this one since I don’t really stick to one genre, though lately I’ve been warming up to calling most of my work street photography. Outside of the photography world, I think folks tend to have a very specific definition of street photography in their head, usually involving some rogue photographer with a giant flash running up to an unwitting subject and getting in their face. That stereotype kept me away from the term for a long time. However, I’ve come around to include cityscapes, architecture, photos of places without people, and even some abstracts, in my definition of street photography. When I do take photos of people, I tend to try to keep them anonymous. Of course, I’m very lucky to be able to travel to some beautiful locations and some of my photography falls purely into landscape.”
There’s plenty to photograph in her bustling locale of Washington, D.C so we wanted to know what else inspires Emma to shoot in certain locations. She said,”I truly believe that there is an excellent photo to be captured at every location. So far, that has held true. I’ve captured photos I love just outside my home, in the alleys of industrial parks, on bike trips, along highways, and in national parks. They all have their unique beauty to me. It helps too that I’m a generalist. I don’t really see myself as exclusively a street photographer, landscape photographer, or architecture photographer. It gives me a wide pool of people to learn from, lots of places to get inspiration from, and tons of ways to approach a location.”
Photos for the greater good through Creative Commons
Emma often applies a Creative Commons license to her photos and we asked her why she was drawn to using those particular licenses. She explained, “I do software engineering professionally, but when I do some programming on my own time I try to open source my work under licenses that allow others to use and modify my code freely, like the MIT license. I bring a similar philosophy to my photography. I do photography as a hobby, not professionally. So, my only goals are to have fun and to get my photography to people who enjoy it.”
She explained further, “The Creative Commons license I choose allows me to provide my photography free of charge to like minded people who want to use my work in their own non-commercial projects as long as they give me attribution. If someone wants to use my work commercially, they can reach out and we can work out a deal, though I also use some groups here on Flickr to provide my photography free of charge to some local DC publications that I enjoy reading. Plus, thanks to the license, I’ve seen my photography pop up in places I never could have imagined, typically small not-for-profit newsrooms that I’m happy to support.”
“I’m pleased with my licensing set up, but I totally get they might not be for everyone. There are a lot of options with Creative Commons. I’d encourage every photographer to take a look at the different variations of the license to see if there are terms they’re comfortable offering their photography under.”
Contributing to the body of publicly available works can help all kinds of wonderful people in unexpected ways.
