1. What motivates you to make photographs? When the motivation is internal, how do you benefit from your photography? If the motivation is external, what results do you hope for?
I'm not completely sure what motivates me to make photographs, I've always been interested and loved taking pictures, ever since I was a kid. The first thing coming to mind about why I take them is to preserve a memory. I guess I just want to capture something beautiful/meaningful/interesting/special and capture it and save it. I have a terrible memory and Im a very visual person, so I like to have the memory, especially a photo memory preserved. I also like to be able to share things about myself with other people and photography and art has always been a way I feel comfortable doing that. When my motivation is internal and I know the photographs are to please me first and others second, I feel less pressure and that's always nice. I know what I like and can aim for that and I think that if people see how happy you are with something they'll notice, I know I like to see an artist happy with their work and having fun doing it and sometimes you just need to do something for yourself. When the motivation is external I aim to meet the goal given to me and please whoever is expecting the photographs. I like to make people happy so I want to make sure they're happy with the results. My sister got married just before I came back to school and seeing her happy with her wedding photos and the photographer's happiness in taking them and that she had fun taking them is really nice to see.
2. What interests and inspires you as an artist in your broader life? For you, what connections are there between what inspires you and your photography?
I always have so much trouble answering the question what inspires me. I guess that's probably because a lot of things do. I feel like I draw inspiration from everything around me. I try to look at things from different points of view and think of things in ways people might not normally think. I still have a long way to go with that, but I try. My friends and family are definitely a huge inspiration to me. A lot of my family (my dad, uncles, aunts, grandfather...etc) are all artists, some professional, some more casual, and most of my friends have varying levels of interests in art and seeing their work and motivation is really inspiring to me. I also draw a lot of inspiration from my geology major. I find a lot of what I study very beautiful and I like to try to show that to people who don't understand it as well. My advisor has a tapestry on his wall that is beautiful even if you don't know what it is and I think that's really cool. I also really wanted to learn to photograph better because of my dolls, like the one I used in the object assignment. I have a few of those and I never really felt fully capable of capturing their beauty to my satisfaction and one of the reasons I have them is because I want to be able to customize them and then share them. I see them as beautiful pieces of art and I want to showcase that. Same with sewing. A lot of my friends and I sew costumes and while there is a lot of satisfaction in just doing that, I really wanted to be able to then share that with other people. It's really nice to be able to share what you love with others. I try t use what I learn from my friends and family and think about what inspires me and bring that into any photograph I take. No matter the subject there's always a way to make it special.
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