"Why do you love abstract photography so much?"
A question I am asked all the time. And one of my main reasons is that I always wanted to be able to draw or paint. But I just don't have that artistic ability. It runs in my family, my grandfather and father were excellent painters. My daughter is an exceptional artist. But I just don't have that talent. I could NEVER get my vision to translate on paper.
I have always loved photography as a hobby. People, events, animals, my kids... I have always had a camera with me. All my snapshots - creating a time capsule of memories.
But this one photograph changed everything to me. I had just moved to Washington for my husband's work - and was accepted into the University of Washington's certificate photography program. We were learning about multiple exposure and I found it so fascinating. Most, if not all, of the photos I took were not the best. But I kept trying because it was interesting to see what came out - juggling exposure time, amount of exposures, ISO... I kept trying to make it an exact science and it was anything but that.
One day, I was in at Lake Sammamish and it was the most beautiful fall day. Coming from California I never got fall like this - orange and red leaves everywhere. I must have taken 300 multiple exposure fails that day. But this one, when I looked at the LCD screen on the back of the camera I gasped. I felt like I stepped into a Monet painting.
As seen here, it is 98% unedited in post - this is how it came out in camera. And I have been chasing that high ever since.
This led me to a whole new world with water and sunsets and plants and I have never looked back. Well... not totally true as seen in my surfer series. But as my kids like to say, I always take the trippy photos.
