Personal | Why I Became a Photographer
I was never the fastest kid or the smartest, but I was always the most creative. I can remember my first music class, the first time I learned what a violin was, the first painting class I took, oh and the first time I was ever on stage! The arts, both visual and performing, was something that has become apart of me. I often hear, “If you constantly question if you are an artist, chances are you are…” I could never relate to that. Art has always felt like home.
My first camera was given to me by my grandmother for Christmas. It was an automatic film camera, electric blue and neon yellow. It also came with a book that educated me on how to hold the moon between my thumb and index finger and how to hold my family members in the palm of my hand. I got my first digital camera in high school (My first one didn’t even have an LCD to view the pictures, but my second one did…all 3.2 megapixels of it!) and a copy of Photoshop. I played with all the filters it had in it. I loved marrying the realistic nature of photography with the unrealistic technical world of computer graphics.
When I attended LSU I took my first film photography class. That was where I learned to shoot on manual and how to develop film. As a creative introvert, I could have lived in the dark room! I loved experimenting with my photos in different art media. I always felt like I was doing Photoshop in real life when I would integrate photos into different forms of printmaking.
The things I love most about photography is that it allowed me to be in social by being a wallflower. I was always to myself, and it when it came to group hangouts, I never really excelled at that. But with my camera I could be somewhere without really being somewhere.
I never thought that photography could be a career. It was just something that I did. Something I've always loved, and I am absolutely in love with finding ways to turn my passion into a career.
Photography has always challenged me, my style is constantly evolving as the years go on. I love that after all these years I am still learning new techniques, experimenting with different gear and print media. The only thing that is still the same is that I photograph like that shy girl in the corner of the room appreciating the beauty in the smallest of details. Always striving to make the ordinary something extraordinary.