The Next Young Photographer

We bought a digital camera for my daughter Abigail for Christmas. Abigail has already taken a lot of pictures. The camera holds 60 images and she can fill the camera in a few minutes. She snaps away photographing everything in her path including dolls, pets, and people. Her photos show an untrained eye but are very creative. The images exhibit the fun of picture taking for the sake of enjoyment. As adults we loose our innocence and get our minds too filled with camera settings, posing, and compositions. Abigail works with an amazing grace and lightning speed running around capturing moments that are hard to get. Did I mention she is only 2 years old?

A Show At Last

I originally posted this as a comment on a recent post John M. Setzler, Jr.'s blog entitled The Next Step (Part 2).
What drove me to photography was my grandfather. When I was a child he would drive me up to the mountains to visit mountain people near a cabin he rented on Cat Tail Creek. I enjoyed sitting on the porch with them hearing their stories and learning about their simple ways of life. When I was in college I took a photography class and my first subject was my grandfather. He was an old farmer who stilled plowed the field with a horse and grew his own vegetables. I had him take me back to Cat Tail Creek but everything had disappeared. I found this to be a rude awakening. I went back to Boone and starting driving through the back roads looking for a way of life that was disappearing in front of my eyes. Eventually I did meet a lot of new friends and found what I was seeking. My grandfather passed away before I could take him with me to meet some of my new friends. What I was looking for evidence of own heritage. I wanted to hear tall tales and sit on front porches again. I wanted to look at their hands and faces and see the hard work and pride they had in their land.
To make a long story short. I graduated college and got a job as a photojournalist. After 6 years I would eventually get burned out and loose my passion. I have since college I revisited my friends once a year or so. A lot have passed away and some have held on. I always fear that I would one day knock on a door and find no one at home.
My goal had always been to share my friends with the world and let the public hear their stories. I have applied for shows since I was a student and always been turned down. A year or so ago I applied to several local galleries and never heard a response.
I am happy to say that I am finally having my first show in Taylorsville at The Spilled Bean early next year of my mountain friends.
In conclusion, I have been a photographer for over 10 years now and I still get that spark of excitement at times and still love everything about photography. The flame has died down a lot but I have never forgotten why I started in the first place.