IDA – Tressa Shaw can still remember the smell of developer and stabilizer when she started out as a photographer using film.
“My love of photography actually started in high school,” Tressa Shaw said in an email. “I was the photography editor of the Monroe High School Highlighter staff. Of course, it was an entirely different world back then, no instant gratification of the digital world. Film photography was an art that I was so very blessed to have experienced. Every day, I got to enjoy the process of photography from loading the film into its cartridge, to capturing the image, developing the negatives, all the way to the final print.
The Maybee resident will forever cherish the hours she spent in the darkroom.
“Film photography is an art in itself,” she said.
For 13 years, Shaw has owned and operated The Photobook located at 3055 Lewis Ave in Ida. She sees clients by appointment and offers a full-service portrait and wedding photography studio.
“We photograph newborns, milestone birthdays, seniors, weddings, commercial/professional and pageant headshots,” she said. “So often I am asked this question and it always makes me smile and chuckle inside. As soon as someone finds out I’m a photographer, the first thing they ask, ’What’s your niche?’ I just reply, ‘Everything!’ I know photography is a profession that lends most to feel they need to choose a specialty or genre to build upon, but for myself, I make every genre my specialty. I get to photograph families and document the most important moments of their lives. The relationships I have built because of it are treasures to me.”
When it comes to equipment, Shaw shoots with Nikon.
“A few years ago, I switched to Mirrorless and currently shoot with Nikon Z6ii bodies,” she said. “Lenses of choice really depend upon the subject and location. I do find that the lens that has been my favorite companion over the years is the 70-200mm f/2.8. It is a beast and will definitely give your arm a workout, but I love everything about it.”
Shaw says the best way to preserve photos is to print them, even if it is a 4×6 image and to store photos in a cool, dry area out of direct sunlight.
In five words, she describes her photography style — “true to color and life.”
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Outside of the studio, she is the official photographer of the Miss Monroe County, MAO scholarship pageant. She started shooting photos in 2018.
“Through the organization, I have made deeply cherished friendships,” she said. “Friendships among the young ladies, their families and members of the board. It’s been such a privilege to watch the growth in positivity, confidence and compassion in every young woman who has entered the competition.”
She says if she had to decide on a favorite photographer who gives her inspiration, she would choose Austrian-American photojournalist Ernst Haas.
“Photography actually evolved from my first love which was journalism,” Shaw said. “When at 12 years old, I won a journalism contest and I had work published in the Detroit Free Press about the nuclear arms race and America’s role in it. Photojournalism developed from there and was truly what drew my heart to photography. As a child growing up, the world felt so vast and images from greats like Haas, gave a connection that most of us would never get to experience.”
Self-described as a reserved and quiet person, being a photographer has given Shaw courage to meet people and build friendships.
She says photography is taking a moment, literally the blink of an eye, and capturing it, preserving it and sharing it.
“One of the greatest gifts you will ever receive and give, honestly, is that box full of photographs tucked in the closet, she said. “It’s not only where memories rest, but sitting around it on the floor, grabbing a handful and passing the photos around…that’s creating a memory that is absolutely golden.
“Unfortunately, digital photography, though it is awesome, it has inadvertently drifted our thoughts from the impact of a tangible image. No one is going to pull out grandma’s laptop in 30 years, sit on the floor, and share laughs as they scroll through. The box is getting smaller, and in many cases will cease to even exist. …I challenge everyone to take the time once or twice a year to go through and print just a handful of them.”
— Contact reporter Lisa Vidaurri-Bowling at lvidaurribowling@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Tressa Shaw owns The Photobook, a full-service photography studio
