Me & My Blog
Hi, there! Welcome to my blog. If you’ve seen my website, you already know that I’m a writer and a photographer. Therefore, many of my posts are about those subjects – what I’m up to, software I’ve tried, photography and writing news, etc. And since I’ve had to learn a bit of web development techniques with both my website and this blog, I talk about that, too. In my Happy Place section, I post things I find amusing, inspirational, awe-inspiring, heartwarming, or otherwise enriching.
My sensibilities in both photography and writing are similar. I’m often drawn to works which incorporate surrealism, emotion, drama, humor and/or mysticism. Beauty in all its forms also inspires me, whether in a poetic turn of phrase or a stunning image. I seek to use those elements in my own work (but not necessarily all at the same time). Although I’m generally not a fan of categorization, here are a few of my favorite artists in each discipline, according to what they’re best known for:
Favorite Photographers:
- Animals: Rachel Hale, Sharon Montrose, Art Wolfe
Fine Art: Robert & Shana ParkeHarrison, Rodney Smith, Maggie Taylor, Joyce Tenneson, Jerry Uelsmann
Photojournalism: Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Doisneau
Portraiture: Richard Avedon, George Hurrell, Annie Leibovitz, Eugene Robert Richee
Vincent Versace belongs on this list, too, but I couldn’t decide exactly where to put him. Fine art? Photojournalism? They both seemed equally appropriate to me. Not to mention that he’s a guru of digital imaging techniques, although I didn’t make a category for that. Whatever you want to call him, his work is breathtaking.
Favorite Writers:
- Fiction: Lewis Carroll, Edgar Allen Poe, J.K. Rowling, P.G. Wodehouse
Playwrights: Christopher Durang, Eugene Ionesco, Molière, Shakespeare
Poets: Richard Brautigan, Sappho
Screenwriters: Mel Brooks, Tim Burton, Joel Coen, Christopher Nolan
I’d also be remiss not to mention Ben Elton and Richard Curtis, the brilliant pens behind the classic British t.v. comedy Blackadder. In addition to Blackadder, Ben Elton masterminded the earlier t.v. hit The Young Ones, while Richard Curtis has written a number of popular films, such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, and Love Actually.
If you’re not familiar with any of the photographers or writers I mentioned, I encourage you to take a look at their work. You might love it, you might hate it, or you might be indifferent to it; either way, you’ll learn something. And, hey, you might just find a new favorite to add to your own list.
© Karen Joslin, 2009
