Sabra McKibbon is the definition of Fantastically Flawed, emphasis on fantastic! One look at her work and you will be blown away. It is intriguing, thought-provoking and different. Which is not easy to do in an industry where everything has already been done! We wanted to learn more about her and we thought you might too. That's why our Featured Artist for May is: Sabra McKibbon Photography How long have you been in business and how did you get your start in photography? I bought my first dslr in May 2010, but I'm not in business. I love being able to shoot how and when I want, and there are some amazing local professional photographers here, so I send any inquiries their way. What is the one thing you wish you knew when you started taking photos? I wish I'd known to be patient with myself, that photography is not intuitive for me and it was going to take time and a LOT of practice to get where I wanted to be. Everyone around me was creating such beautiful images, and I was sure I'd never be happy with my work. What does photography mean to you? Well, now I find beauty in strange places and light is serious business, lol. Taking pictures of the people I love, showing them at their most beautiful, or silliest, or capturing an intense emotion --that fills me up inside. What is the best part about being a photographer? I love the friends I have made in the photography world. There are so many talented and inspiring women in this field who are kind and helpful and supportive, they are a blessing in my life far beyond photography. If you could shoot with any photographer in the world, who would it be and why? I tried, but I can only get down to the 21 photographers I would most want to shoot with, lol. My best photography girlfriends are spread out all over the country, our dream is that one of us will win the lottery and we'll be able to take a vacation together. For now we make do with smaller meetups as time and travel permit. I'm super excited because I get to hang out with two of them, Erin Pasillas and Kate Densmore, over the summer! What is your favorite image you have taken to date? I think this image is the one that mean the most to me. I was attempting to capture the pain and heartbreak of depression because there are several people in my life who suffer from this disease. How do you feel about breaking the perceived rules of photography? It's not something I worry about anymore. I see the beauty in a technically sound image, but for my personal work I also enjoy the unpredictability of a lensbaby or using a slow shutter speed for out of focus blur. And I don't automatically dismiss an image because it's slightly OOF, if there is something I love about it, it stays. :) Sabra McKibbon Photography
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Magazine spreads, perfect portraits, fantastically flawed... she can do it all and do it beautifully! She is Megan Dendinger and she is our featured artist for April from: Megan Alisa Photography How long have you been in business and how did you get your start? I have been in business a little over a year now. I got my start when my first child was born in 2006. I did her "newborn photos" on my couch with a soft blanket, too cool white balance and some photos not in complete focus. I never thought it would lead me to where I am now though. I didn't learn to use full manual mode until 2012 and since then have never switched to any other mode. Which photographers influenced you, and how did they influence your thinking, photographing, and career path? Back when I was very first dabbling in photographing my kids a few years ago with my first dslr, two photographers that I can recall are Shana Rae Rosengarten of Florabella Collections and Annie Manning of Paint The Moon Collections. When I started to really want to do this as a business, a photographer that I was admiring then (and still now) was Jen Carver Photography. She had a lot to do with helping me find myself as a photographer. I consider her a mentor as well as a friend. I took her online workshop class and still continue to be active in that group of fantastic photographers. What is the one thing you wish you knew when you started taking photos? I suppose to only trust the guidance of those who get you as an artist. People that don't get your style and the kind of art you make aren't going to lead you where you want to go in your journey. What does photography mean to you? I have always needed some kind of artistic outlet. I have tried different things throughout my life to try and feed that hunger, but none (besides singing) has ever done that like photography. I feel free to create my own world and tell a story to my audience. It is a really satisfying feeling for me. I hope to never stop feeling this way. What is the best part about being a photographer? Being able to freeze a moment in time; an emotion, an interaction, beautiful things, sad things, all things. It is a powerful feeling to be able to do that. When I look back on a photo, I can feel what my subjects are feeling. I can be there in that moment with them. It is truly a gift to be able to do this. If you could shoot with any photographer in the world, who would it be and why? This is maybe the hardest question out of all of the questions here for me to answer. I admire so many photographers. I think it has to be Barb Uil of Jinky Art though. I love the whimsical, magical photos she produces. I aim to create that same kind of feeling and she is always someone I look to for that kind of inspiration when I feel I need a little more magic in my life. If she is ever close enough to California with a workshop, I am doing it! What is your favorite image you have taken to date? If had to pick one image, which is really hard for me to pick by the way, it would have to be my daughter's face when she was having a bit of an unhappy moment with me. It was totally different than my normal pretty photos. It is still beautiful to me but just different and pushed me into a larger realm of emotions that I want to capture. It is the image that I see everyday on my 27" iMac monitor and I still love it. How do you feel about breaking the perceived rules of photography? I view photography as art and I think if you can make something visually attractive,
the rules don't matter that much. If you can create something the pulls viewers in, that makes you as the artist feel satisfied and it isn't something that follows the rules, there is no matter. I have always been a bit of a rebel though. :) Her work be stills my heart! A fellow Lensbaby lover, I just adore the way Sherri Davis captures that dreamy blur and creates such beauty and wonder! I have been a fan since the very first photo I saw of hers and continue to follow her with eager eyes. Thrilled to have as my March featured artist: Sherri Davis Photography How long have you been in business and how did you get your start? I got a completely manual slr in 1987 for a college class and learned b&w developing and processing which started my photography hobby, but it wasn't until 2007 when my son was born that my creativity took over. In Canada we have one year maternity leave. I decided to use that year to learn everything I could about photography hoping that if I got good enough I could work from home and make my own hours with a basement photography studio. I started charging people in 2008, but I didn't have a business number until 2010. In all honestly, at that point I was no where near ready to be in business, but I had my blinders on and had no idea the growth that I still needed. I stepped back from the business side in 2013 to focus on myself and my family. My youngest will be in school full time in the fall so I am starting to look towards that time when I will be able to devote more time to shooting for others (and have the time for all the business stuff and editing that goes along with that). Which photographers influenced you, and how did they influence your thinking, photographing, and career path? Deb Schwedhelm, Pink Sugar Photography, Ginger Unzueta. Not following what everyone else is doing. Listening to your own voice and not someone else's. Balance. That it is okay to photograph your children. You can create beautiful art of your own children. It doesn't always have to be paying clients. What is the one thing you wish you knew when you started taking photos? White balance! What does photography mean to you? I am a stay at home mom living in the middle of nowhere away from my family. My husband works a lot so most of the time I am on my own with two kids, one who has special needs. It is what keeps me sane. It gives me focus and something to strive for. Something to look forward to. It makes me slow down and be in the moment with my children and really see what is going on. Every night when I go through my images from the day I see the beauty in my life. And in the moments when I am feeling like the less-than-perfect parent I can look back and see the childhood I am giving my children and know that I really am doing the best that I can. What is the best part about being a photographer? Having so many photographs of my children. There are so many moments that fade in our memory over time. Looking through pictures brings us right back to that moment and refreshed our memories. My kids love to sit down and go through our albums. If you could shoot with any photographer in the world, who would it be and why? A local photographer named Larry Towell. He is part of Magnum Agency and has documented conflict zones around the world as well as documenting his own children and family in an incredibly honest and though provoking way. Even in the most horrific war zones he captures everyday moments which speak volumes about people and their ability to survive. His way of viewing the world and the moments within life have been a huge influence on me. I would love to be able to spend an afternoon at his house watching to see how he observes the moments around him. My favourite quote from him is "It can take that which is ugly and make it beautiful, not by misrepresentation, but by stopping to look more deeply at the subject itself, and by striving to paraphrase the non-event. In this way, the ordinary becomes distinct, the way poetry transforms words. This handling of the ordinary is the life of photography itself. In this ordinariness, photography lives and breathes." Larry Towell What is your favorite image you have taken to date? It would have to be one taken with my lensbaby in Janurary 2013 of my daughter twirling in a pocket of sunshine. This image symbolizes so much to me. I was going through a rough period creatively and had given up. It was that giving up which opened myself up to moments as they happened instead of pre-planning, over thinking and orchestrating. The out of focus was not intentional. I was learning how to use my lensbaby and my daughter was just too quick. I did get a few in focus, but I preferred this one that is blurred. How do you feel about breaking the perceived rules of photography? I will admit that I smile a bit to myself when I break a rule on an image and it turns out amazing. There are times when rules are important and I follow them, but other times I don't mind throwing them right out the window and thumbing my nose to those who say you can't do this or do that. One thing Sherri and I have bonded over is our love of freelensing. Recently, Sherri has begun freelensing in video format as well. Here is one of her gorgeous freelensed home movies of her little girl! I am dying to try this myself!! Like Star Dust Glistening On Wings Have you ever wished you could capture a dream? Hold on to it...make it real? I think that's what Katy Tuttle spends her whole life doing. She turns dreams into something tangible and breathtaking. Hers is the work of a true artist! Unique, beautiful and flawed in only the most fantastic of ways! My February featured artist is: Katy Tuttle Photography How long have you been in business? I have been in business for 1 year and some change. The evolution of my photography has been long and slow. A quiet voice and need for creation since the beginning of me... photography now seems it would have been an obvious choice from the moment I picked up a camera. But it has taken many past lives to become an actuality. (All for which I am grateful for.) Which photographers influenced you, and how did they influence your thinking, photographing, and career path? I would say that my work is more heavily influenced by dramatic disciplines, teachers and poets than actual photographers. My background is on the stage. And my inner voice, my vision presents itself to me by way of interaction, connection and direction. Today, I am influenced by fine art photographers and documentarians; Sally Mann, Diane Arbus, Francesca Woodman and so very many others. This year my biggest influences have been Valeria Spring of The red balloon photography and Deb shwedhelm of deb shwedhelm photography. I have been lucky enough to workshop with both of these fine women. What is the one thing you wish you knew when you started taking photos? I wish I had known that perfection is not what I was to strive for. And that just because I was a photographer it did not mean that I was to be able and willing to shoot everything and anything. What does photography mean to you? It means freedom to use my senses to create. What is the best part about being a photographer? Creation and shared breath. If you could shoot with any photographer in the world, who would it be and why? Eeekkk! Favorites and choosey questions are not my strong suit... What is your favorite image you have taken to date? No way to know...I fall in love all day long. How do you feel about breaking the perceived rules of photography?
Rules? What are those? I still remember when I first noticed her work. She had used her Lensbaby at a carnival and I was blown away by her gorgeous images! I am so honored to have the incredible Maria Manco from Maria Manco Photography as my very first featured artist for Fantastically Flawed! How long have you been in business and how did you get your start in photography? Like many, I started getting into photography when I became a mom. After taking my son, now 3, to Portrait Innovations for his 3 month photos and spending a lot of money on run of the mill standard studio photographs, I decided to get a dslr and teach myself. Little did I know that naive thought would turn into a total obsession and a true passion. Which photographers influenced you, and how did they influence your thinking, photographing, and career path? I initially started with "posed" photography - i say that in quotes because I was pretty terrible at it. Then at one newborn session I took a photo in between the posed shots of the mom holding and looking at her baby, in awe of the tiny creature in her arms, and my heart skipped a beat. In that instant I knew I needed to ditch the posing and focus on lifestyle, although at the time I didn't know that was what it was called. I think I first found Deanna McCasland - her everyday images of her kids had so much depth and told such a story - I saw what photographing children as true art looked like. From there I found a whole slew of photographers to admire - each with their own style yet still with the same base foundation of photographing the everyday in a beautiful way - Ginger Unzueta, Candy Kempsey, Suzanne Gipson, Molly Flanagan, Summer Murdock, Alain Laboile, oh I could just go on and on. There are so many people that I get inspiration from on a daily basis. One thing all these photographers have in common is they photograph from their heart - life is beautiful and imperfect and they embrace it all - the good, the bad, the happy and the sad. They do not strive to create the perfect image - they photograph what they see as they see it. Not every image may be technically perfect but every image is full of emotion. I have learned to feel more when I take a photo and to just trust the process that by staying true to myself the business/career with fall into place. What is the one thing you wish you knew when you were starting out? To just let things happen and don't try and force the scene or photo. 90% of the time those photos get tossed. I will slightly direct people if there is better light in a certain spot, but I no longer try and force connections and moments. What does photography mean to you? I tell people photography is my therapy. If I am feeling stressed, all i need is 10 minutes with my camera and I am back on level ground. I also feel like it has made me a better person. I appreciate the little moments/details in my life and that I am able to capture them forever. I worry less and embrace the hiccups in everyday life. Photography is my outlet and my connection to others as well. I have made so many friends this past year be they other photographers or families that I have photographed. What is the best part about being a photographer? I love that I am able to give my family these memories of what it felt like to be us, right now. I hope that when my kids are grown and my husband and I are old and grey, that we can all look back on these photos and remember not just the moments, but the feelings and the love we have for each other. I hope my photos will help my kids remember what is was like to be little and to be loved. I also love being able to do the same for the families I photograph. If you could shoot with any photographer in the world, who would it be and why? Eek - that's a really hard question! I feel like I could learn so much from so many people. What is your favorite image you have taken to date? Another really hard question! It's so hard to pic a favorite, I have so many that I love and that I am proud of. There is a photo of my son and husband walking hand in hand that I just love. My husband is an amazing father and whenever I look at that photo I can feel that. How do you feel about breaking the perceived rules of photography? When I first started I was very technical, and slow, and I missed moments and most of my photos felt flat. Every now and then it's good to let go, forget about the rules, feel your photos instead of thinking them. These photos that I am sharing I used a lensbaby and just threw all thought out the window - not only was it fun, but I got a series of photos that I truly love (they are even hanging in my kitchen at the moment). |
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