Photography

Yesterday I was talking to Daniel and I told him I thought I might like photography better than painting. I what! Wait! I've always loved painting. That's who I am. Every time someone says to tell them something unique about me, I say I love to paint.
So I still love to paint, but for today I love photography.
I talked to my photography teacher after class. Every year at BYU I need a mentor, someone who shapes my life for that year. This year he's my mentor. I find myself seeing everything in art, observing how light falls on people's faces.
I have always known I love light. But I am finding that I LOVE LIGHT!
He encouraged me to spend this next year being a photographer, doing portraits and I just might! (Ok, dont worry, I'll still substitute teach---but I want to photograph people).
I love how with photography you can capture the essence of a person, roll them up into one moment in time. I love how you can throw a prop into their hand and they react differently --- and their personality comes out. Their true personality. I loved seeing To cry on command---the actress in her. And how she dressed for the shoot and how she changed her hair and facial expressions while I changed my lenses---that shows her artistic abilities. I love how when I gave Savannah the birdie she looked at it with such love and compassion---it shows her charity towards all men but also towards animals. I love how McKay reacted with the birdie: his tender spirit came out, but he also showed his most memorable thinking face.
What I would love to do, ultimately to do would be to take photographs for people and then paint their portrait so it's personalized and a real keepsake. When I'm painting people I get to know them. I was commissioned to draw two little girls whom I'd never met and I feel as though I would know them. Though I drew them over 5 years ago, I think I could recognize them today. Plus, painting is creating. It's taking something that's a blank white sheet of paper and turning it into something beautiful.
I photograph what I love.
I talked to my photography teacher and he asked me whyI was trying to photograph still life's and I told him I didn't know; that I love photographing people. I love their depth, their personality. And I don't think I'll try to photograph still life's---I'll stick to what I love.
So for today I AM a photographer.