My Inspiration

If I could think of one person who inspires me, I would say it would be my cousin Mary Ketchmark. She is a professional studio photographer who does weddings and senior pictures. Specifically, what she does to inspire is how hard she works to get great wedding pictures. One of my goals is to become a wedding photographer, so whenever I see her taking wedding pictures, I want to follow in her footsteps. This past summer I shadowed her at my stepbrother's wedding. I would watch her and stand next to her whenever she took pictures so I could learn how to get good photos. When I stood next to her I saw that she framed her subjects perfectly. For example, in one shot, she used flowers to frame the bride's face in the picture. She was a great help by teaching me the basics of wedding photography. I am very grateful for this. Now I know what to expect when I shoot weddings on my own. Her hard work and determination inspires me to rise above what I am capable of. Additionally, she always seems to have the right lighting and composition in her photos. The picture below of the bride and groom kissing shows Mary's skills at lighting. I like how the sky in the background of the photo is white. It conveys a sense of a bright future and happiness for the subjects. The other photo illustrates her skill at capturing the personality of a subject. Mary had a good idea of composing the girl and the horse in the same shot. Just shooting a medium shot of both the horse and the girl was a good idea so that we could see both of the expressions. If there is any photographer I can learn from, Mary is the one.