Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Project 52 Week 5: Panera Yumminess

So, last Saturday I got to take the day and travel to Lincoln to meet up with my Nebraska Writing Project friends for our annual winter writing marathon. As always, it was so inspiring to be around all of them. My small group started at the Sheldon Art Gallery, then went to Panera Bread for some din din and skinny caramel latte yumminess. Both of these photos were taken over lunch ( I don't know why, but I was inspired by both Danielle tearing bites from her bagel, and the cup-runneth-over whipped cream and caramel on my latte.




Then on to the Great Plains Art Gallery to check out the Jon Carlson Photojournalism and Small Town Nebraska Exhibit.

While we were there, I wrote the following...

I needed today. My mind has been scattered for months! My thoughts are everywhere and nowhere at the same time. The peace I am now experiencing in this small corner of the Great Plains Art Museum is almost nerve wracking because I find those dancing thoughts daring me to slow down and really think about them.

In this moment staring at this exhibit I find myself wondering, "Can I do this? This is what I aspire to! To capture the roots of this state and tell their stories! To work for Nebraska Life and National Geographic! I want to capture life in my photographs and share it with others! I want to give images to families that can be passed down, that tell their stories." It is a scary thought, putting myself out there like this.

Danielle doesn't know just how much her comment meant to me today. The one about how her students write about my photographs. This simple comment has me floating, and I find myself wanting to capture more images to send to her students. I want to meet them and ask them to tell me why they write about them. Not to hear praise, but to hear about what they see in them. I want to take picture for them and make them smile, cry, or laugh, photographs that make them WANT to write!

As much as I love being here in Lincoln today, this exhibit that illustrates rural Nebraska has reinforced my roots and my love for my rural place. It is that place that inspires my images, and I find content in the fact that my photography "style" was born from these rural roots.

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Katrina Lee Photography is a professional custom photography business specializing in natural light and location portraiture as well as fine art portraiture.