I've always been one of those difficult to categorize types of people, mostly because I deplore categories! I prefer, instead, to celebrate that which makes each of us unique.
The same is true of my photography. I want to capture images that are fresh, vibrant, and, well, eclectic.
Eclectic is a word I've heard used a lot to describe me. I think it is shorthand for woman with many passions and pursuits. This is my truth.
I'm a pediatrician/adolescent medicine specialist who gave up the publish or perish world of academic medicine for a more manageable lifestyle as a medical director. This transition, in turn, allowed my dear husband and kidlet to see me more often, as well as enabled me to start this exciting new business.
The kidlet, also known as the most photogenic child on the planet (at least to her mom), is another large reason for my return to photography. I spent decades using various point and shoot cameras, having all but forgotten all the basics of the exposure triangle and how to use an SLR camera without auto settings. (My poor old Nikon EM still sits lonely on a shelf in my back bedroom, longing for the day that film makes a comeback.) But my kidlet, who has the face of an angel and the speed of a possessed rabbit, proved too great a match for my most recent point and shoot. Indoors, by the time the shutter tripped, she had moved halfway across the room. The LCD display would show a blur of brown hair. There are months in her first two years where the only pictures I have of her are either her sleeping or trapped in her high chair. I had to up my game.
But what camera to buy? All I knew back then was that my ancient film camera was a Nikon, so I should probably get a Nikon. Nikon and Canon are like rival families, sort of like the Capulets and the Montagues without the death and tragedy, you know...but once you get into one of the families, you never get out. So I stayed with Nikon. Yet model numbers, digital capabilities...heck, the last time I used an SLR it had FILM in it! What did I know now, almost 25 years later?
So I did tons of research, I mean, watched commercials and saw that hottie Ashton Kutcher hawking a Nikon D60 as a great entry-level camera. What else did I need to know? It went on my Christmas list.
It took me a few months and a lot of courage to turn the dial from Auto. I will not show you any of my early non-Auto photos (hey, why does this noontime winter snow scene look like a photo from a coal mine?). Yet being the obsessive-compulsive, extreme type-A person that I am, I was determined to LEARN how to work my camera. Within 6 months, and nearly as many courses, I had outgrown the Ashton-recommended D60 and had moved up to the full frame prosumer (love that word!) Nikon D700 that was immediately christened, The Precious (no, Golum, this is my Precious).
I continued to learn, to practice, and to push myself in order to develop skills that allowed me to be able to photograph more than my comely daughter. I don't think that I've learned all there is to learn, but that is the beauty of the journey, this eclectic journey. The journey is more important here than the destination. And I am far enough along the path that I can provide you with evocative and eclectic captures that you will treasure for years to come.
What else can I tell you about my life's eclectic journey? Other important facets of my journey include blogging, knitting, cooking, jogging very, very, very slowly (sort of like walking with a teensy bit more oomph), deep thinking, navel gazing, geriatric parenting, anti-princess crusading, cat-loving and shoe whoredom. Life is very, very good.
Eclectic Journey Photography offers lifestyle and studio portraiture for newborns, infants, children/teens and families.
Let me document your life's journey...
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Celeste Jones on Facebook - These are really nice:)
Liana - Thanks, Celeste! I really loved this shoot.