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I had to take a couple of days to think about this assignment. There are so many people, artist or not, that inspire me each day. There is a local photographer, Linda Lee, who inspires me with the portraits she takes. How she can capture the youthfulness or the family bonds with a single photograph. I also love how Anne Geddes can work her magic with those babies like no other. Ansel Adams’ black and whites are just phenomenal and majestic. I could take any artist or photographer and pick something from each one that inspires me.
I took some time to think back to see if I can remember any photographs that touched me like no others had. There is one that kept coming to the forefront of my mind. It is the very controversial shot of the vulture and the starving child taken by Kevin Carter in Sudan in 1993. I saw this photograph some three or four years ago and I cried for about a week. This picture tells a story that you cannot describe properly with only words. It is so powerful and heart wrenching. At the time I saw this picture I had to know more about him, the little girl and the situation. I researched the photographer, who was he? Did he do anything to help this girl? Where is he now? Carter went on to win the Pulitzer Prize for this photograph in May of 1994. Then three months after that he went on to commit suicide. He had become so depressed from the things he saw abroad and his inactions to help this girl.
I cannot remember any other photograph that had touched me the way this one had. I had never researched a photographer or wanted to know the outcome of a photograph besides this one. This picture made me realize that my passion lies with people (and animals) and the stories they can tell with their clothes, their eyes, their expressions, their surroundings. My family, my friends, animals, the happy days and the sad days and all the days in between, that’s what I really want to capture. I want to touch people and strike an emotion when they look at my photographs, maybe not as dramatic as Carter’s but an emotion they weren’t feeling before looking at the photo.
[attachment=0:3uk4ndt6]vulturengirl2.jpg[/attachment:3uk4ndt6]
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