Meet This Week's Judge: Sonja Stich

This week we welcome the very talented Sonja of Sonja Stich Photography! She shared a little about what inspired her incredibly rich photography here!

“All that is important is this one moment in movement. Make the moment important, vital, and worth living. Do not let it slip away unnoticed and unused.”
― Martha Graham

1. Tell us about yourself...

I´m a hobbyist photographer, former graphic designer and mom of two boys. My family and I moved from Germany to Barcelona in Spain two years ago. We travel a lot.

2. What ignited your passion for photography, and what fuels it now?

I always had a camera and loved to take photos and I am a very visual person. But it was not a passion for me until my first child was born. As a design student I took almost every course except photography – in retrospect I think it was too geeky for me. I was not interested in camera gear (I´m still not) and technically perfect photos. But when I started taking pictures of my children, their cousins and friends – and later strangers on the street, photography became emotional for me.
Now my passion is fueled mostly by my children. I´m inspired by their imagination and eagerness to play all the time. They taught me to look at the details, through their eyes I see bugs, shadows, shapes, puddles, reflections in there and much more.

3. What's in your camera bag right now, what do use the most? the least?

My equipment is basic: A Nikon D7000, 50mm 1.4 lens, 35mm 1.8 and a Lensbaby Coposser Pro with Sweet 35. No flash, no tripod, not even a reflector. I mostly use my 35mm lens and the lensbaby.

4. What's your dream project or shoot?

I would love to shoot weddings, but the unconventional, boho-style and crazy ones, not formal weddings.

5. What is the biggest challenge you face as a photographer?

I struggle every day with the question if I´m exploiting my children or other models when I take their pictures and show them in public.

6. If you had $500 to spend on photography...

How should you spend it?
How do you wish you could spend it?
How would you really spend it?

I should buy a professional camera, but 500$ will not be not enough... I wish I could spend it for a zoom lens, and I really would spend it for... a zoom lens

7. Is there any one thing you wish someone had told you at the very beginning of your photography journey?

No. There are a lot of things I wish someone had told me at the beginning of my journey as a designer. But when I started with photography I already had experienced a lot of struggles concerning creativity, critique, self exploitation. I feel fortunate because I started relatively late in an encouraging environment of women photographers.