Today we’d like to introduce you to Julie Merica.
Julie, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
One of my first memories was helping my grandmother work in her darkroom. She would let me carefully pour the chemicals into separate containers and watched silently as I clipped the photographs to a line for drying. Watching the pictures gradually develop and fill the page was the closest I had seen to magic. From there, my love for photography grew steadily and organically. My passion really set sail when my high school psychology teacher, Mr. Ayres, pushed me to take a few extracurricular classes and eventually become the photo editor of the yearbook. After college, I began professionally taking photos for friends and families and local events which built my confidence and personal style. To this day, I learn something new every single time I take out my camera. It allows me to be creative and decisive and thoughtful with a tangible reward of capturing life’s magical moments in beautiful, timeless images.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
Photography is preserving a memory in a way that permits us to see how magical and rich that fleeting moment truly was. Life can move really quickly and there is something incredible about pausing to appreciate it through a unique perspective frozen in time. I hope to garner a sense of nostalgia by capturing the true emotion in a moment. Ideally, my photos will transport the viewer to another place in time so they can be permitted to feel exactly what was felt in the moments I have been so blessed to capture.
Artists face many challenges, but what do you feel is the most pressing among them?
I think with the rise in technology there are a lot of amateurs that sneak in and compare themselves to professional photographers. They offer services with less experience for a dramatic decrease in price which drives the market down. I absolutely love that people are becoming more comfortable and confident taking photographs and building their love for the camera but it is important to not diminish the value of those who have taken the time to garner experience, gather education, and build their own brand.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
Julie Merica Photography is on Instagram @juliemericaphotography and facebook.com/JulieMericaPhotography. You can support Julie Merica Photography by booking a session or ordering an original print from my website juliemericaphotography.squarespace.com
Contact Info:
- Website: juliemericaphotography.squarespace.com
- Email: juliemerica@yahoo.com
- Instagram: instagram.com/juliemericaphotography
- Facebook: facebook.com/juliemericaphotography
Image Credit:
Julie Merica Photography
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