@cdannhausenbrun was chosen as our featured artist for the them {Quote} and I connected with Christine to learn a little bit more about her photography journey.
Tell us a bit about yourself? And, are you a hobbyist or a pro?
What an honor to be interviewed! I am Christine and I am a wife, mother, photographer and public health researcher. I am a mother of six amazing children, ages 11 to 23 years old. I am a hobbyist photographer but have had a few paying clients over the years. My day job includes public health program evaluation, health surveys and working on health issues at the intersection of climate change.
I have been taking photos for as long as I can remember. I grew up watching my dad take photos and put on slide shows for us. I started my own photographic journey messing around with my dad’s 35mm camera and eventually had my own cartridge-based 110 camera. When I started dating my now husband, I could often be found absconding his Minolta 35 mm film camera. I currently shoot with a Canon 5D Mark IV. For Christmas and my upcoming birthday, I received a GoPro 9 and a drone. I cannot wait to begin experimenting with both.
What inspired you to pick up your camera initially?
Documenting life is what inspired me to first pick up a camera. I never met my mom’s parents as they died while she was young. There were not many photos of her parents. As young child, I don’t know that I realized why I was picking up the camera then. As a mom I realize what I was doing. I was documenting moments with special people, milestone trips and those moments together at home to help hold onto memories and show us what our life was like in that moment in time. It what still drives my photography.
How do you improve your technique?
Practice! Classes through groups like Click Community. YouTube videos. Studying my own photos. I will look back at photos and think, ‘I should have adjusted for that horizon line,’ or ‘if I had moved over a foot, I could have cropped out that stop sign.’ It does not mean I always remember to do these things the next time, but it does help me become more aware over time.
Most important thing you have learned about editing?
I have a love/hate relationship with editing. I love playing with editing. At the same time, I don’t always trust myself. I second guess what I have done and then I start thinking about photographers who I admire and think that they would do it differently. Editing takes a lot of time and I definitely enjoy the process of taking a photo more than the editing. This means I am working on trying to get better with what I take in camera!
Secret weapon. Or piece of advice that’s helped you?
I have a few pieces of advice that have helped me. First, critique your own photographs. It really is a skill that helps you begin to stop and look before you take a photograph. Second, stop, look and change your position. Changing position can completely transform a photo. Third, don’t compare yourself to others. Be you as it is what makes your photos unique. Fourth, compare yourself. At the same time, comparing yourself to others does give you ideas to spark your own creativity.
Why photographs? Why not painting? Or poems? Or, for that matter, statutes or taxes?
I love documenting moments in time. For me, photography is the easiest way to do this. Painting a moment in time takes way too long! I admire those who paint and have many family members who have done it. I do also write poems or history letters. I write a Christmas letter each year that encapsulates our year, but it is always interspersed with photographs. It is only as I have gotten older that I have realized how much of my history is intertwined with creating and documenting life.
We love learning about our featured artists. Thank you so much Christine for sharing your photography journey and your beautiful photographs with all of us at Share Six. We can always learn from each other. Take some time to visit Christine’s IG page at @cdannhausenbrun
We look forward to seeing your images on our Facebook page and our Instagram Page. The theme this month is {Abstract_22} for so tag us with #sharesix_abstract_22 for another 2 weeks. The theme will change on February 5, 2022.
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