No Offense Taken

At a recent art show, a lady who was unfamiliar with my photography, visited my booth. She saw me and my husband sitting together  and asked which one of us was the photographer. When I told her that I had taken all of the photos, she seemed surprised, stating that most of the images had a masculine quality to them. I took no offense to her statement, as my photos reflect my background. 

I grew up in central Alabama building forts in a pine thicket with neighborhood kids. Countless hours were spent sitting in a jon boat with my brother and dad fishing for bream and catfish. As a teenager, I preferred spending my summer afternoons on a tractor raking hay in the hayfield rather than doing more traditional girl's chores. While I was not a bonafide Tomboy, I wasn't a girly-girl either. 

I think that it is true that we are the sum of our parts. Somewhere in all the experiences that make me who I am is a love of southern rivers lined with moss-covered oaks; the beauty of a farmer's field with crops ready to harvest and rusty cars, trucks or tractors. These are the images that have the power to take me home through my viewfinder.