Sometimes beginning is the hardest part. For me and this blog, it is. I want my blog to be meaningful and deep, thought provoking and insightful with a blend of humor and seasoned with images... none of that will happen unless I just begin. Deleting posts are always an option once I decide my route or find my voice, so what is there to lose.
I stepped out on a limb, ran with a dream, put all I had in a basket one year ago when I agreed to a severance package. I decided to dive into photography with everything that was me. Today is my 1 year anniversary to that event. Though that time I interviewed many successful photographers in a variety of concentrations, I was inspired, discouraged and also challenged at times. 6 months after that on April 1st I officially began my photography business.
One decision I made during that incubation period of sorts, was that I would not be choosing a box to operate in as a photographer in order to be successful. Instead, I decided early on to search for my photographic voice and eye. I wanted to take my time and meet me in my images. I began with a passion for making pictures on the street with my Nikon D60, (That camera was my birthday gift to myself 6 months before I was let go from my corporate job) So I found myself on the streets of Portland especially at the Saturday Market making pictures of people. One day I wondered into Powells Book Store on Hawthorne and went to look at some picture books.
I sat on the floor with a book that captured my attention. A women photographer from the midwest, like me who made pictures on the street. This was my first introduction to Vivan Maier and street photography. I had an incredible emotional moment right there on the floor at Powells, tears welling up in my eyes. I found something, something wonderful. Something that already existed in side of me. Plus the fact that at that moment I had never heard of her. We came from the same area in the US and even had a similarity in our appearance to eachother. It was symbolically like I was looking in a mirror and discovering a part of me.
