A Christmas Gift for Myself

For years I have wanted my very own copy of the book "Family Pictures" photographs by Nicholas Nixon. Walking through the aisles at the Otterbein College Library, I found many wonderful art books to be inspired by, but this book changed my life. And any book that makes an impact on me, opens my mind, or changes the way I think about something in life needs to be on my book shelf. I love to see these books on a daily basis to remember the way I felt, the time in life when I read it, the way the pages felt, and how they changed me. How I became a different person because of the words on each page.

Nicholas Nixon's "Family Pictures" is one of these life changing books. This book found me while I was in my Sophomore year of college. We were assigned a photography project called "In the style of". We had to choose a photographer and complete a series of photographs that were in the style of that photographer's work. I don't think I had ever really known who Nicholas Nixon was until I started roaming the art section in the library for this project. I found this book, this tiny little paperback book. It was not like most art books that are large and extremely heavy. The images attracted me because they were different, natural. Nixon did a series on his family at home, his wife and two children. It was filled with photographs of simple, everyday moments. Moments that were not anything particularly special, just moments in the life.

That weekend I went home to photograph my family, specifically my four little brothers. Nothing happened the way I wanted it to happen. My brothers didn't want their picture taken, then they didn't want to stand next to each other, and then a few cried. I was upset, but I just kept capturing the moment. When I returned to school and got in the darkroom, I never wanted to leave. I spent hour upon extra hour making print after print. I had found my direction. I always knew I wanted to focus on photographing people, but this book showed me how I wanted to photograph people.

I have hinted to Trevor for years that this book would be a very special gift. Finally I decided that I was not going to wait any longer. I bought it for an early Christmas gift to myself. And I love looking at it everyday. It gives me inspiration, and when the craziness of my business takes over, it reminds me what I truly love about photography. I love capturing people's lives, the real moments.

Here is some of the work that developed throughout the final 3 years of my college career all stemming from the single project based on this book. I apologize for the quality of these images. They are all from slides.