When not messing around with books I love to photograph whatever catches my eye. In fact, the photo background here on my blog is my own work! My love of photography really began in June 2009 when I took a summer, graduate history class to D.C. studying American memory and history. Part of the course was to document what we saw in photos for use in our course paper. This turned out to be one of my favorite parts of the course as I got inspired by the impressive architecture and beauty of D.C. It also helped that my pictures impressed a few classmates, which encourage me to keep shooting. I really had no idea what I was doing technically, but that didn’t stop me. One thing led to another and now two years later I am about to have my second show! From September 1-30th, I will have 15 pieces on display at a local coffee shop. I’m very excited to put them up and see my work publicly displayed in a heavily trafficked business!
I’ll close this post with a few lessons I’ve learned about being a photographer:
1) Don’t get caught up in having the “best” body, lenses, bag, tripod, or any other gear you can waste money on – I have seen (and taken) great shots with point and shoot and seen bad shots taken with cameras costing thousands of dollars. The photographer is only as good as his/her eye and imagination.
2) Photography is about having fun and being creative. Experiment! Even the most mundane object can be photographed in a unique and interesting way.
3) Lastly, just keep shooting! Don’t lose courage if your photos don’t always come out as you want them to. Use that as motivation to keep at it!
Your older brother and I are pretty grateful that you went into photography and that he (Nick) inspired you by his persistent love of photography……we still love looking at all the amazing engagement photos you took of us and we can’t wait to make a physical album out of them!