1. Please tell us about yourself…
Whew.. well.. I’m a mom of 4 kids and a whole mess of pets, married almost 17 years and living in Northern NJ. I love the sun — did my undergrad work at Arizona State.. (GO SUNDEVILS) and worked for a few years at club med as an aerobics instructor (totally serious) — love being outside, working out, day trips into NYC and pretty much structure my day around anything that will make my kids tired :-D
2. Can you describe your style in 3 words? Why those words?
everyday, life, real
While i can appreciate a well composed portrait, for me it doesn't tell a story… I love to use my images to tell the story of my life, and my children's childhood. Portrait photography, and studio photography seems too sterile to me. My life isn't lived in fancy clothes, in perfect lighting or in a crisp clean studio. Its full of dirt and sunshine and small dirty hands that paint where they shouldn’t, skinned knees, wet shoes from jumping in puddles, hurried trips thru museums and flour covered counter tops from making cookies. i was always drawn to lifestyle type images that show the extraordinary in everyday life so that is what i shoot.
3. What sparked your passion for photography?
i always was the kid with the camera— in college i would spend my money on “reprints” (yes i know that dates me) instead of food. But i really didn't get into photography until my son was born almost 15 years ago.. and then well I took shots of everything. My second child came along less than a year later and the two of them were peas on a pod. I took pictures allllll the time.. and i can pinpoint the EXACT moment my passion really started — they were 2 and 3 and i was trying to take a picture for our Christmas card…. and i got a shot I LOVED…. and then i looked at it more… and was like WHATTTTT is that? and noticed a shadow behind them.. caused by the on board flash… so i googled how to get rid of flash shadow.. which led me on the “how to shoot in manual” adventure and well that was the beginning right there…
4. What's in your camera bag right now?
24-70 on my canon mark iii 90% of the time, 16-35 on my canon mark ii 90% of the time, a 50 1.4, a 100 2.8 macro that i can’t remember the last time i used and a 85.1.4 — which i should probably sell cuz i NEVER use— I have a speed light which I can count on one hand the number of times i have used in the last year.
5. What is your dream shoot or project?
being asked to come into a clients home to shoot for a few hours of their life.. just them being them in their house. or grocery shopping or out as a family. I am on year 7 of my own person 365 project… it takes so much time/energy and organization to do it.. but the end result is amazing.
6. What are some of the misconceptions you had about photography and photographers at the beginning of your photography journey? Have they changed, and how?
When is started out i saw other photographer images and was like i need to shoot like that or like this and made the mistake of not using other photographers' images as inspiration to find my own photographic voice but i thought.. "i need to shoot like them" —and for a while i tried.. but it went against every fiber of my photographic being.. i didnt like posing, i didnt like everyone looking at the camera .. it didnt feel “REAL”to me. Now when i see other photographers work i can see THEM in it.. more often than not i know whose image it is before i see the name attached to it.. it is just HOW they see the world. i thought that i had to see the world like everyone else. I was wrong.
7. What advice would you give to newbie photographers? What advice do you wish you'd been given at the very beginning?
Learn the photographic “rules” and then learn when to break them. The best advice I ever got was you need to know the story you want to tell BEFORE you click the button. That sets the whole tone of the image. What advice do i wish i got? Shoot for yourself not for other people. :-D
Find more of Cindy's gorgeous work here:
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