I only recently re-discovered photography, I have only been seriously shooting for about 3 years now. I must credit my father for his encouragement to get back in touch with my creative side.
When I was a kid, my parents discovered I possessed a real talent when it came to art. All through my school years I was in art class of some kind. My mother had me taking lessons in oil painting for a number of years and I still have the paintings to this day. I found I had a particular knack for drawing, and I did a lot of that. I still remember every art teacher I had through the years. I distinctly remember elementary school and Miss Vaught. She would give us our assignment and the turn on the music! I remember drawing and painting to songs such as Dust In The Wind, Daydream and A horse With No Name. These songs still stir my creative juices.
I continued on with my art in collage and took several art classes. One of those classes was a photography class. At the time there was no digital so we shot B & W film. We developed them as part of the class. I liked photography because it was so different from what I had done, but I never really picked it up because to kid in collage it was very expensive, and I just didn't have the money. I continued with my art but found there was no real money in being an "artist". I also had a love of cars (what teenage boy doesn't) and found that I really enjoyed working on my own.
One of my professors in class one time told the entire class to follow their dreams and find a job doing something they loved to do. I loved working on cars so that's what I did, goodbye artist, hello Mechanic.
My artistic side took a back seat to starting a raising a family but I was always doodling, maybe in church, in meetings or anywhere I had a pencil and a piece of scrap paper. I have amazed my kids on more than one occasion helping them with one of their art projects, so when my Father encouraged me to explore photography, it came easy! I always had a point and shoot and started with that, but my first DSLR really showed me the potential for more creativity. From then on, I never looked back! Besides, it's a perfect opportunity to spend some real quality time with dear old Dad!
As most of you already know, I have a real passion for HDR photography. Recently on the trip through the southwest with Dad and Juan Pons, almost every shot I took was with HDR in mind. I took a lot, and I mean a lot of pictures. Not all made great HDR's, but I took some of my most favorite shots out there that did make exquisite HDR shots!
I have also done some portrait work and have found, much to my chagrin, that I actually enjoy it! Working with kids and capturing there an emotion is very rewarding. I am still rather intimidated when using models but I suspect that will go away the more I work with them.
I'm mainly a landscape photographer. I enjoy being out in nature and enjoying this wondrous world around us. I am in awe of what God and Mother Nature have created and I strive to catch this splendor, power and vast beauty with my shots. I try to tell the story of the places I visit and attempt to convey the feeling I get when there to the viewer of my shots.
I am greatly influenced by the work of Ansel Adams, Michael Fatali, Christopher Burkett and Carlan Tapp. I look to their work when I need some inspiration or when I wonder how another photographer might look at things.
I heard a well know photographer say "The camera looks both ways." And I have to agree. I put a little bit of me in just about every image I make. Not every image is good, but I learn something from every one that I take. I look at mistakes as just one way not to achieve whatever it was I was striving for.
Thanks for reading about me and I hope you feel you might know me a little better and have some insight into how I look at things. "Everything in creation has its appointed painter or poet and remains in bondage like the princess in the fairy tale 'til its appropriate liberator comes to set it free."
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
Carl L Shortt III
