It’s Thursday and I’ve started a new job at a photography gallery, so why not “throwback”?
Between 2009 and 2013, I was a photographer. I exhibited at Houston Center for Photography, attended Tisch at NYU, acted as the photography editor of my high school newspaper, and photographed for The Daily Texan.
I turned my attention towards photography after making That’s Me, a mixed media work, in 2009. It began as a photograph that I edited in Photoshop and later painted and drew on top of.
After 2009, I took photography seriously. My camera became my third arm, slung over my shoulder at all times. I shot everything. Coffee, trees, and (most often) my friends.
I loved capturing whatever I thought was in front of me and comparing it against my memory and what I was told. I particularly enjoyed film photography. It does what it wants. During my senior year of high school, I played with a small blue plastic camera. (In addition to being “fun”, It was extremely cheap and light in comparison to my DSLR.) I never knew what I was going to get until I developed the film. I took the above photograph with a Mini Diana. While drinking coffee and visiting with my friends, I took multiple photographs on top of one another. Delightfully, it worked out.
Between my junior and senior year of high school, I studied at New York University. It was intense to say the least. I loved and hated it. We were constantly on the move–taking photos, editing photos, or looking at photos. Somewhere in there, my roommate managed to cut my bangs.
Photo and styling by Tess Mayer
I continued to photograph after my summer at NYU. I became the photo editor of my school newspaper The Review, played with a “polaroid” camera, and began experimenting with social media.
April eventually came around, and I had to make a decision. Ultimately, I decided to study something “practical” at a state school instead of art or photography at private school. It felt safe and practical. I figured I could do art after my undergrad if I really wanted. Presumably it was a test of will or passion.
So, I studied advertising at The University of Texas. I wasn’t too happy at first. At one regrettable moment, I emailed a former professor at NYU and begged her to help me transfer to NYU. Nothing came of it, and things got better at UT. By junior year, I thoroughly enjoyed my classes.
To satiate my desire to return to my “former self”, I briefly joined The Daily Texan. Honestly, however, I was a mediocre photographer when it came to journalism, so I left that after a semester and joined the sales team.
My favorite books related to photography:
On Photography, Susan Sontag
Hold Still, Sally Mann
Camera Lucida, Roland Barthes
The Photograph as Contemporary Art, Charlotte Cotton
The Ongoing Moment, Geoff Dyer
My favorite photographers:
Brassaï
André Kertész
Dorothea Lange
Sally Mann
Lorna Simpson
Nan Goldin
Carrie Mae Weems
Diane Arbus
Bruce Davidson
To view more of my photography, visit my Flickr. For the everyday, follow me on Instagram. I had a photography blog back in the day that I have since taken down. If curiosity strikes you, you can attempt to find that on web archives at either ereedphoto.com or blog.ericaannreed.com. I started it in 2010!