I came across a contest hosted by National Geographic & Mazda yesterday evening on Facebook. Today is the deadline, so I found myself scrambling to gather a series of images that I feel represents what I like most about photography. I thought back, long and hard this morning to my best "A-ha" moments. The moments where I knew I'd achieved what I was after in the shot. The moment where I saw the image for the first time on the roll of film, backlit against my bathroom vanity light. I asked my husband for help. He adores the double exposed film image of the Cape Hatteras lighthouse and Jetty from our trip to the Outer Banks. I've always been fond of the image of our youngest son exploring the creek and surrounding nature at Turtle Island Preserve. I remembered the moment I captured of the beetle raising its outer "wings" just before flight. I giggled at my memory of crouching butt-up in our yard (seemingly crazy to the neighbors) as I marveled at the center of a yellow dandelion. There was also the memory of the moment my niece was born.
Emotional and in-the-moment, I documented the entrance of a new life into the world. These are the moments I crave.
I am inspired by real, raw, natural moments. I don't enjoy editing and photoshopping photographs. My career has taught me to be well versed in posing photos, but that isn't where my passion lies. I love to watch my subject through my viewfinder and wait for the right moment to naturally occur.
My childhood dream was to be a National Geographic photographer. I would gaze at the magazine images for hours. The closest I have came to this dream is being a freelance photographer for our local newspaper. A true photojournalist.
So, here I am, typing hashtags and digging deep within myself and my file folders to share these images. It isn't easy for me to showcase myself. I prefer to be in the background, behind the lens. I'll never be able to chase my childhood dream without shining a little diffused, bounced light back my way...so here we go. Here's me, taking another proverbial shot.
#NatGeoMazdaContest
