I have loved dance and visual art forms, since I was a young girl. I see motion and poetry in everything and if I could live my life over I would be a director. For me, the moving image is breathtaking, but to be able to stop it in motion or set up a meaningful portrait is very powerful. Growing up, studying dance and performing in the entertainment field, gave me an amazing eye and ear into a world that only made me realize how much I loved film, direction, angles (oh how I love angles) and ultimately the end result on the big screen.
In 2000, I went back to school to study the technical aspects of the camera and to see if I might be able to sell a landscape someday and “feed my hobby.” After a few years I was invited to work and learn from a very seasoned pro, who told me I could do this. I shot second, mostly black and white film, on weddings and some other interesting jobs. At the same time I also worked lead and second for a large wedding photography company and just kept trying to perfect my skills and build a portfolio. I have learned that I will always be trying to perfect my skills and I will always be pushing to learn more and do more.
I turned 50 this past December 2010 and I finally made it to New York City, fulfilling a life long dream! I have never felt so much energy and can’t wait to go back. I could live there in a heartbeat. I’m pretty excited about the body of work I’ve created already and the growth I’ve experienced. I am a member of Professional Photographers of California and I have slowly earned the right to call myself a professional photographer and yet I still don’t think I’m worthy at times. Believing in yourself is half the battle. It’s all so subjective in the arts.
I hope to push to do more interesting and thought-provoking work in my future and I hope to continue to have clients in my life that love and respect the art of photography as much as I do. I keep striving to build a portrait business, covering mostly high school graduates (college too!) and industry headshots and would like to consider this my speciality. I also continue to do a handful of weddings every year, so I can invest as much time in them as possible and am usually referred. (I love covering the engagement shoots too!) Editorial and corporate work are also areas I am continuing to make small footprints in and someday, it is my strongest goal to be out in the mission field, with my heart first and camera second.
It’s important to have goals in life and one of the goals I’ve always had was to be able to contribute, through my art, to my family and give my husband a break! My work, pays for my youngest’s son’s conservatory education, in the arts, and that’s a very cool feeling. I cherish my family and they, and this passion, keep me going…
I hope this is a fun place where you can keep up with my professional and personal life and maybe, just maybe, I’ll get to meet you and work with you!
Comments and feedback are really appreciated.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and view my work. I am very grateful and I am very, very blessed.
All the best!
deb
by Deborah Tracey
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