Karen Hicks

I take pictures because I can’t not take pictures. I find that when I am without my camera, I feel like something other than myself. There is a big piece missing. And while my burden may be lighter without the weight of photo baggage on my shoulder, I am somehow weaker in its absence. I am powerless and ill-equipped for capturing the fleeting beauty that constantly crosses my eye. No two people can possibly experience the same moment quite the same way. I love knowing that twenty people given a camera and a subject, regardless of education or experience, are going to shoot twenty completely different photos. I do not necessarily think my own perspective to be greater than anybody else’s, however, I feel the need to share my own way of seeing because I believe there is much that is missed by the average liver of this life. I delight in showing people the beauty in themselves and in the little ordinary things that saturate our day-to-day world. One thing I enjoy about being a photographer is that I can be as connected as I want to be. I can be a fly on the wall, bearing witness to events as an outside ovserver; or, I can step forward and fully be present in the moments I am capturing. Either way, the focus of attempting to freeze my vision into something slightly more tangible is my addiction. I live for the satisfaction of achieving that creative quest. And it is everything to me when others can see and appreciate it, too.