January 2012 Contest (Photographers) What Inspires You?
Contest type:
Writing
Contest Theme:
What Inspires You
Photographers, what inspires you? Tell us about what motivates you to do what you do through your photography as a business, personally, and how it has effected your life! 3 winners will be chosen on January 31st and will receive a $25 gift voucher to Volume 25 Digital Eye Candy! The contest opens January 3rd and ends January 28th. Voting will take place the 28th-30th on our Facebook page!
Rules:
-Please keep submissions under 2,000 words
-1 entry per photographer, entries are to be left in comments
-You do NOT have to be signed up with ITA to participate
-Please include your NAME, STATE, AND EMAIL or your entry will not be counted!
-Voting will begin on January 3rd 2012
After you submit your entry post this page on your facebook, email it, or share it with friends! Have everyone stop by here and “like” your submission! The top 8 entries will be voted on January 28th.
This months prize:
A $25 gift voucher to Volume 25- Digital Eye Candy
“VOL.25 was started in January of 2008 when I opened the doors to my virtual business via etsy.com. Originally VOL25 was purely stocked with my digitally created art. Eventually I had the thought to combine my artwork with my photography… a fellow photographer pointed me in the right direction and in December of 2009, I released my first 3 sets of Overlays and the response was amazing, it definitely gave me the encouragement to keep going! Today the collections continue to grow each month. In addition to the overlays (custom shapes) VOL.25 Digital Eye Candy is also offering album templates, as well as card templates. I have big plans for the coming year and am suuper excited to share them with everyone! I’ve been very fortunate to have an excellent group of photographers (take a peek at them HERE!) working with me from the beginning. They continue to and inspire me as an artist and a photographer.I am so thankful for all the friends I have met on this journey!”
Just testing the comments section
Why am I surprised that 25 years after leaving home, 35 since using my first camera and 13 years since having my first kid, that I’m a real photographer?
Every era of my life involved either cameras, art, performing, being great at something, connecting with and impressing people. I was so sure no one would like me without the products of my creativity. Split into all the confusing pie slices that girls find themselves in until they get older, crabby, experienced and oft referred to as “ma’am”; knowing where you’re supposed to be reunites all the pieces of the pie. Like Steve Jobs, every single thing I was passionate about as a confused wandering girl-person all led me to my speciality.
As long as I treat photography and my life as a process that I need to expand, refine-and hopefully enjoy a lot more than reality wants you to-maybe more people will see my work and smile, feel great, get excited. Certainly when I show a session to my favorite clients, there’s a few moments when I think I know what it means to have a big family and large circle of friends (which I don’t). The comfort I get from knowing that all my efforts to escape over the decades has really turned into the mightiest, brightest confluence of notions that empty into my heart, out of my eyes, through my fingers, back to my computer, to my clients, returning to me like the greatest love of my life.
Possibly my three girls will see me struggling to be great and think that’s the normal way for girls to be, that moms might be monsters sometimes, but we’re living examples of the tiniest taste of what they could do in this world.
Practicing all this self knowledge folds into itself too because I am to be happier with an ebullient soul. So the process is the means and it’s the result and it’s also the greatest inspiration to me, to my girls, to my clients, to my husband…maybe someday the world, right? Isn’t it about what keeps you going?
Brandy Angel
Angel Photography, GA
brandynangel@gmail.com
Life inspires me, people inspire me, moments in time inspire me. I love to capture who a person is and where a person is in their journey. I know that sounds crazy but I honestly follow my clients around getting to know them and their story. And there is always one picture, one great picture that captures their eyes, their personality, the WHO they are. All the posing and fake smiles don’t hold a cabdle to that one great picture. Almost every client has said that no one has ever captured them that way. I take so much much pride and happiness in that. I want people to look at my photos and see the soul of that person, because long after they are gone, that picture will remain. I recently volunteered to take pictures of a family who’s mother was ill with terminal cancer. I spent the day getting to know that family and making life long friends. We had a wonderful afternoon and had beautiful pictures to take from it. People asked me what kind of cancer did she have and I tell them I don’t know, we didn’t talk about that. We talked about life and love and family. She passed away on Christmas Eve morning and it broke my heart but I am so glad that her daughters have those pictures to hold on to. The love and hoensty of those pictures are the reason I do this. There is no better reason in my book.
What inspires me?
Just before my oldest son was born March of 2006 I got my very first DSLR. At first the object of my affections was my son. I must of snapped 10,000 pictures his first year. After that life floored it! 22 months after my first little guy way born my second baby boy made his appearance in Nov 2009 .. then life happened again my third little boy arrived Sept 2009. Phew! Life was full, blessed and very busy.
Since being a small girl I have always loved art. It was and is a large part of who I am. I love being able to express myself. I love art, I love the way it frees me. It makes me feel connected, grounded.
When I had my children the time to paint, sculpt or sketch went ….. away. But… I could still take pictures. They were use to their crazy Mom chasing after them and even taking pictures of their friends too. They in fact liked it.
It was 2010 when a good pal of mine suggested I start taking pictures as a profession. Really, you think?
And that brings us back to the original question…
What inspires me?
When I sat down and really started thinking about what to name my business is when it became crystal clear what my drive and yes purpose was. I have always been drawn to people I have been about art all of my life.
I emerged into a Woman, a Wife and finally a Mother.
It was really When I became a Mother a whole new side came from me. It’s like I was new again.
My life has brought me here.. my journey.. Life is fleeting…you have to preserve it, capture it , freeze it in time.
Love Life Family These three things are my everything. And I am honored to take part in preserving this for Families. For helping to protect their precious memories to last for all time.
Love Life Family Photography
Renton WA
Julie Whaley
My family inspires me. I did not own a camera until my children were the ages of 2, 4, 4, and 6. Before that time, all of the pictures I had were taken by family and friends. I realized how fast they were growing and what little I had to remember them by. I wanted to capture more of their childhood for all of us to remember. After I got my first camera I would “click” what I wanted to remember. I would freeze that special moment in time. Pictures of my two middle sons falling asleep holding each other, my daughter playing dress up, my oldest son giving our puppy a bath….. I would share these pictures with friends and family on our blog. After others would see my photos they would ask me to take pictures of their family. Now I look to capture what I think others will want to remember. When I look through my lens I look with my heart, not my eye.
WahooPhotos
Capturing the wahoo moments in your life
Phoenix, AZ
Julie Bielefeldt
What inspires me to be a photographer? First and foremost, my children. From the time they were born, I have photographed each mile stone (and everything in between). There’s something special about looking through a lens and being able to capture the smiles, laughter, and real beauty of someone. Everyone loves the studio style pictures, but my joy comes from creating those “in the moment” memories. My best time as a photographer is just staying in the background and allowing my clients to interact with one another. Whether it’s taking a stroll down a side walk or just sitting on a park bench. My true inspirations comes from capturing the moments no one wants to forget. One could call it stealing. I “steal” that moment and make it into a story that will last a lifetime. A year ago my husband and I were blessed with twin daughters. On the evening of their delivery, the pediatrician came into our room to tell us that one of the girls appeared to have down syndrome; however, confirmation would only come from future testing. Our biggest fear wasn’t the down syndrome, but that most babies with down syndrome have heart problems. My initial response to the doctor, “we can live with down syndrome, but we can’t live with a bad heart.” Something in me was saying that in this moment in time, my life was meant to be a mother to an amazing, gifted little girl. After several days of waiting, the results came back negative. As relieved as my husband and I were, the outcome of the test would not have changed the love we have for our daughter. Being a photographer is a blessing in so many ways. I am able to capture those moments and turn them into a lifetime of memories. When I first cam across this website, I knew it was my job as a parent and a photographer to join such an amazing organization. As blessed as I am to have three healthy children, I want to be able to help bring joy into others’ lives. If I can relieve someone of their worries for a few moments, then what I do is worth it. Everyone deserves happy memories. It’s my passion and responsibility to make sure those I come across have those memories.