Mademoiselle and the Mockingbird – I’ve heard it many times. My photos are “pretty.” I’ve heard it from a director of a local museum. I’ve heard it from a best friend. I’ve heard it from dozens of kind individuals who have emailed me to tell me just that. Pretty. When I was first trying to wrap my head around the compliment, I didn’t much see it as such — a compliment. I saw it as status quo. I saw it as uninteresting. I saw it as an anchor keeping me firmly placed in mediocrity, far from where I wanted to be professionally.

But there is something that I have learned about “pretty.” Pretty sells. Pretty makes people smile. Pretty takes me to beautiful places and puts me in the presence of “dreamy,” something for which I have great affinity. Best of all, “pretty” spans a wide scope.

Today, I find myself on the experimental side of pretty. The side of pretty that would be two standard deviations to the left on a bell curve if illustrating mass appeal. The side of pretty that makes my heart sing, but will leave more than a few perplexed. As someone who does care about what others think of my work, it’s a leap of faith on my part. I’m counting on a “zone of acceptance” from my viewers. From those who like the saturated fields and the sunlit flowers, I’m asking them to entertain a different perspective on those same fields and flowers. From those who are enjoying the moodier side of Slight Clutter, I’m asking them to see certain complexities in the “ordinary.” I want 2008 to be about branching out of my comfort zone, and I want to bring all those who have enjoyed my work in the past with me. I’m still going to invite pretty into my photography, but I’m going to do so only after it examines its psyche and unleashes itself in a fuller form.

I chose Mademoiselle and the Mockingbird as my #1 because it is just the kind of pretty that has been drawing me in of late — a timeless rendering with subtle optimism and quiet beauty. It also didn’t hurt that my mom played the lead role in this production…and that fog was present. This is my favorite photo that I’ve taken to date.

On a different note…

Sometimes we just have to say it — thank you. This post is dedicated to all the people who have encouraged and/or inspired me in my photography pursuits over the past three years. Many of the notables don’t have a web presence, but there are some who do, and I’d like to mention them here. I don’t keep in regular contact with some of the superstars listed below, but at one point or another they all positively impacted my progress.

Jeff Balke

Linda Plaisted

[Kren]

and…

Jeremy Hawkins, who always gets a special mention, because if he hadn’t linked to Flickr three years ago on his now defunct blog, I’m 100% certain I would not be a photographer today.

Now this list isn’t exhaustive. It leaves off many who have inspired me creatively and/or have given me a well-timed pat on the back. One only has to look this group or this one to find so many others whom I hold dear.