Assignment 2 – Inspiration

[Diane]

I want to be a better photographyer – heck, I just want to be able to take cool photos. I am envious when I see people walking around with these great big monster cameras, knowing full well that they probably know how to photoshop with just as much impact to their photos as their big-camera-toting has on me. The thing is, I’m approaching 50, my ability to learn all things new and technical is diminishing somewhat, yet when I view photos like these by Holly McCaig, something happens to my insides. I long to be able to capture and explore like she does.
I believe that we all have a desire to see ourselves as others see us. I see me differently than my husband or my children see me. I would love get into their heads and see me as they do. That, of course, is a very silly notion. I can’t make that happen. I can only help others to see what I see in them. I would love to be able to do this through picture making – using both the technical and scientific principals of a camera and the technology offered through programs such as Photoshop.
Holly McCaig is someone I am familiar with through a website called ScrapinStyletv.com. It is a community of mostly artsy fartsy scrapbookers, collage artist, photographers and wannabes like me. I am unsure as to Holly McCaig’s status as a photographer – I don’t know if she’s published or not, if she does picture making for a living or as a hobby, or even if by professional standards she is even any “good”. All I know is that when she posts a new photo, I am magnetically drawn to some of them. Her blending of subject and color and composition sometimes leaves me breathless.
I have posted two photos of hers that have had that impression on me.

[Duncan Rawlinson]

Very well said. I like how you’ve mentioned you don’t know the professional status of the photographer you admire. All you know you have an emotional response to her photographs. That is what this assignment is meant to explore. Thanks for sharing this with us.

[Author]

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