The Blending of Two Passions! Yes! There is a Connection…

 

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Kettlewell Kettles!  North Yorkshire, UK

Greetings and welcome to my very first blog post!  I would like to introduce myself by telling you all a bit about a subject of great importance to me…i.e. the confluence in my life of two deep passions – playing the piano which I began to do at the age of two and one half years!….and which led to my becoming a professional  musician and a concert pianist.  And later on discovering my passion for photography!  The two fit like a glove; both inspiring and informing the other!  SO…let me tell you about the genesis of my work here – in both music and photography!  

Given the early age at which I started playing the piano I can say that I have had a long and successful career as a concert pianist, recording artist and teacher. My love for the piano goes very, very deep.  I would be seriously impoverished if I found myself unable to play and to share the amazing music written through the ages for the piano and its predecessors!  In addition to simply ‘loving’ to play the instrument I can also say that the process of working through and bringing to performance level the great musical and artistic masterpieces of the past two to three centuries is a privilege that is so special that I really have no words with which to express it.  You can definitely hear it in my playing, though! 

My love of photography, the second and more recently discovered passion, although developing somewhat later, still influenced my artistic vision and my need to share that vision at quite an early age!  My parents gifted me with my first little ‘box’ camera, as a Christmas present,  when I was eight years old. From my twenties on, as I traveled throughout the United States and also abroad, playing concerts, I always took a camera along – even if only a small ‘point and shoot.’ I began using an SLR ‘film’ camera, probably a quarter of a century ago, switching to digital equipment ten to fifteen years later… , and finding myself  increasingly involved in, and dedicated to, the art and craft of creating pleasing images.

was inspired by a quote from Jeff Wignall’s book ‘Landscape Photography – a Kodak Guide’: ‘Photography is an act of personal exploration. You seek to reaffirm or explore your identity in the places and subjects that you photograph.’ The thousands of photographs stored on my computer bear witness to this assertion! I also believe that understanding the interplay, in a musical composition, of the elements of line, direction, texture, pattern, tonal color, harmony and balance, discord or dissonance and dynamic range (to name just a few!) is a huge part of working out and projecting the interpretation of that composition. And I am fascinated by the idea that it is these identical features which – when unified – coalesce to create an excellent and compelling photograph.

Photography, then, is the other half of a blending of two passions which have contributed greatly to the quality of my life.  Hopefully this display of my work, here in my photography site,  will clearly illustrate my dedication to this second art form which has captured my imagination and become such an important part of how I see the world around me.  More accurately really – how I feel the world around me!!  And finally, how I attempt to represent ‘my’ world with all of the passion and depth it deserves! I hope you will enjoy the site!  Please feel free to comment!   

{In conclusion, I would like to acknowledge my recent and current teachers, Karen Hutton, and Wes Hardaker!  Both are consummate artists, and both have the ability to teach by example, helping students to find their individual photographic/artistic personalities as they capture ‘their’ world, and always as ‘they’ – the students – see it.  Neither force their own point of view.  And that is a gift!  One that is greatly appreciated!  I worked with Karen from April of 2014 through the beginning of 2015.  I am now being mentored by Wes Hardaker and have been working with him for the past two years. } 

All images on this site are copyrighted, © Sandra Carlock, and may not in any way be reproduced or copied without her express permission.

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