"If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough.”

Robert Capa once said, "If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough.”

 

I bet you’ve heard that one before. I know I have, but it’s a challenge I regularly face. With candid and street photography, I have always felt more comfortable with a little bit of distance and a huge lens between me and my subject. I can chalk that up to a little social anxiety, but my real fear was that being too close to my subject would interfere with the portrait make them feel more self-conscious and awkward, or even annoyed, and that the resulting photos would look uncomfortable and stiff.

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Renaissance Woman

Hello all!

This coming Tuesday, November 10th, I will be showcasing some of my artwork at the Main Street Boutique craft show. You can read all of the details like time, location, etc. in this lovely flyer and associated link.

What will be I selling?

Being a photographer, graphic designer, writer, and jewelry maker, I have a made a line of custom products that are inspired by my photography including:

  1. Lancaster Christmas cards

Each card features a photo of downtown Lancaster during the holiday season and a unique Christmas greeting inside.

  1. Custom Gift Tags for your Christmas presents
  2. 5x7 notecards featuring scenes of downtown Lancaster and Lancaster county
  3. Photo jewelry
  4. Custom guitar pick jewelry made from exotic wood
  5. Photographic prints
  6. And more! (I don’t want to spoil the surprise, come and find out!)

So why am I doing this? Why am I not just focusing on photography? Why am I making jewelry when I could be doing book layouts or family photo shoots?

Way back when, before I called myself a photographer, graphic designer, etc. I was just a creative kid. “Where are my colors?” was one of my favorite questions for my mother when I was on the hunt for my misplaced box of crayons.

At heart, I’m still that creative, curious kid who asks “Wouldn’t it be cool if…” Wouldn’t it be cool if this photo was a card? Wouldn’t it be cool to wear this photo as a piece of jewelry? Wouldn’t it be cool to tell a story in a different format?

And heeding that question, pushes me to try something different, to do something more. Even as I tap away at my computer in my studio, I am not only surrounded by filters, strobe lights, and camera bodies, but also jars of Mod Podge, spools of wire, and paint brushes. I am a Renaissance woman (also a tiny bit of a hoarder).

The best part of pushing myself? Of saying yes instead of no–  It makes me a better artist, storyteller, photographer– all around. By focusing and refocusing on different creative projects and mediums, I am constantly expanding my horizons and learning new things about different artistic fields and applying them to each other. 

So come by on Tuesday and get a jump on your Christmas shopping! It’s going to be a lot of fun.