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| How long have you been creating ?
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Like most of us, I have been doing something artistic since I was a child. I was always drawing or painting--won my first art contest in the 3rd grade (still have my blue ribbon).
After being told by my art professor in college that I'd never make it as an artist and might as well be a housewife (imagine someone saying that today!), I ended up in the computer field.
In between, I did every craft on the market (even ran a fairly successful craft business for over 10 years).
It wasn't until I was given a digital camera that I finally found the perfect way to express myself (and to tie in my computer background), and life has never been the same since.
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| What is your media of choice ?
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Digital photography.
I love the idea of being able to stop time and then shape it to create what it is that I feel the scene and I are trying to convey.
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| What are your motivations for creating ?
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In photography, you capture a moment in time and, if you get it right, it lives on forever.
There is a photo taken in 1931 by Eva Besnyo that captures a street in Budapest so completely that every time I see it, I feel that I could walk right into it.
That is my motivation: to create that kind of atmosphere--a kind of "time travel".
I want someone to look at my work and feel a sense of recognition, a sort of déjà vu.
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What other artists or movements inform your work ?
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The extraordinary photography of Walker Evans, Solomon Butcher, Joel Meyerowitz and Wright Morris.
The incredible color, light, and ambience of my favorite artist Edward Hopper.
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| What do you find visually stimulating right now ?
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Patterns, color, the play of light!
I tend to see in angles and perspective: everything--no matter how ordinary--can be made to look extraordinary!
It constantly amazes me what beauty there is in even the most mundane items.
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| What's the last book you read ?
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"The Poetry Home Repair Manual" by Ted Kooser, a Nebraskan poet who was also the Poet Laureate of the United States.
What he describes in his book is relevant to any creative endeavor, be it poetry or painting or photography.
He believes that since there is no one forcing the public to read poetry (or collect art), there has to be something about our work that invites the public in and holds them there--something which resonates with them.
He cautions us to never put anything into our work which would distract the reader/viewer and remind them that they are reading a poem or looking at a piece of art.
Finally he reminds us to "remember that the greatest pleasures are to be found in the process itself--the pleasure of having done something as well as we can".
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