Photography Love

My love for photography began in high school. It was very unlike me to take an art class. I had hurried through my courses and had the opportunity take a break from intense academic classes my senior year. This is when I fell completely in love with photography.

I'm an introvert and an observer. I think that I was always making photos, I just didn't have a camera until I was 17. Photography allows me to capture moments in time, the way I see them. It is a tool that helps me define my perspective of the world. As an adolescent girl, struggling with life and trying to find her way in the world, photography fostered my sense of self. In a way, it gave me a voice. One that I have finally found and will forever be developing.

“Sometimes I do get to places just when God’s ready to have somebody click the shutter.”

– Ansel Adams

Though it has been years, I also love being in a darkroom. I love the scent of chemicals, the hue of a safe light, loading my film reel in pitch darkness and watching my photographs develop in what seems like magical liquid. I learned to develop photographs in a darkroom back when digital photography was unheard of. Even when I took photography in college, all of my photos were developed in a darkroom. You lose track of time in that comforting cave and the hour you set aside to work somehow turns into three or four. When I reflect on those times, I realize that it was an awesome way to be in the here and now.

“For me the printing process is part of the magic of photography.

It’s that magic that can be exciting, disappointing, rewarding and frustrating all

in the same few moments in the darkroom.”

– John Sexton

I have finally made the transition to digital photography and I absolutely love my software program. The thing I love about digital photography is how simple it is to finalize a photo (if I don't think too much). I can create a photograph in a couple of minutes. Now if I get into my neurotic/perfectionist mode, I can spend a substantial amount of time on just one photograph but at least I'm fostering my creativity. I love seeing the before and after. I will always be amazed at how you can make one photograph look so different. For example,

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 4

Photo 5

“In photography there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality.”

– Alfred Stieglitz