Water Under The Bridge Pt 3

Reflections of time.... Reflecting on it all….

Had you asked me in early 2017 what I would be doing 2 years down the track I would have shrugged. This photo here was where I fell in love with photography and is where my journey first started. It is not perfect, but rarely a photograph ever is.

The most technically perfect photograph can still have a complete absence of emotion. And emotion is what makes us tick. I remember this photograph like it was yesterday: the first photo I took on my first DSLR and the first image of my own capturing Sapphire, setting me off into the photographic wild blue yonder.

You can tell from her unsure ear set she had NO idea what this thing was I was using. An unforgettable moment taking me right back to 2016 like it was yesterday, and that is the exceptional power photography has – the ability to transport you right back to that moment.

When you look at a piece created in Photoshop it is hard to get an understanding of the time and learning that goes into it, even choosing the format/size of your blank canvas is an important decision. Because, as I have learned, it's very hard to change an aspect ratio on something you have built from scratch.

All of my work is created on a square canvas. For my own eye, I find the uniformity pleasing. And in time, I hope to be able to show you all a snapshot of what goes into that process.

Moving forward…..

2019 has shaped up so far to be quite a year already, to date, every piece of work I have submitted to juried competitions has been recognized in some way or another. This includes photographs as well.

I am really pushing myself to think outside of my comfort zone and countless hours have been spent learning. The flip side of this is that I do spend a lot of time deleting things that just don’t work. It might surprise you to know, but 9 out of 10 pieces I create never see the light of day and are never likely to, photographically speaking that number plummets to about 1 in roughly 5000 images. The rest get used as backgrounds and the likes.

3D modelling/rendering has become something of an obsession and moving forward I hope to use more of this in my more fantastical bodies of work.

I cannot get too much farther without a special mention to firstly, my sisters who put up with my endless “Hey what do you think of this?” and the two ladies at Creative Compass. Vicki and Santie. I credit a lot of my success and boundary-pushing this year to these two creative beings (and Gallery owners themselves). Their feedback and support are honest and insightful, and it is a pleasure to have them on my journey.

One of my most recent pieces of work reflects all of those highs and lows and the journey of learning. I look forward to seeing what the next 6 -12 months bring. As I sit here now and look at the past 12 months I feel a sense of achievement, and from that, a new set of goals emerges, for this artistic life is a never-ending journey into uncharted territory. One of my most current pieces of work, a testament to the journey undertaken in the last 12 months.

And I cannot finish this blog off without Sapphire having the final word on the matter... Titled: To The Moon And Back (You may remember Super Saffy featured in an older blog of mine, here she is re invented - the 2019 version- click here to read)