Interview with my Flickr friend Rosemea

1. How did you first get interested in photography ? and are you self taught ?

I was born drawing and painting. Photography comes from that I suppose.
Yes, I am self-taught.



2. Do you have a favorite walk around lens ? If so, what is it ?

Sigma: 50mm macro, Sigma 70-300 mm.


3. What equipment and software do you use ?

Cameras I have and use:
EOS Digital Rebel XT 350

Lenses:
1) Sigma 50mm macro.
2) Sigma 70-300 mm.

Nikon Coolpix S10
Nikon Coolpix 2220 (that was my first camera and I seldom use it now).

Software: Microsoft Digital Image and Picasa.

I prefer pictures the way they come out of the camera. I use Microsoft

Digital Imaging (which does about the same things as Adobe photo shop) for my signature and frame. A little saturation. But not much!


4. Which one item of equipment is the most important for you ?

Besides the basic camera, you mean? Chips and batteries. I can take one thousand pictures in one afternoon. I don’t think much. I look, I like and I click. I love the noise of my camera clicking.


5. How do you decide on locations and subjects ?

I go with the flow. I can be eating breakfast and see a shadow
on the wall, a reflection. A flower. I love to go hiking and take pictures.
To me less is more and I take pictures of things that most people don’t even
notice.

My husband and I go out every week end and take pictures around Washington D.C., and Virginia.


6. What are your favorite subjects to photograph ?

Reflections shots are second nature. That is how I perceive things. Since I draw and paint I see shadows and light all the time. Those are natural. I take pictures of flowers because I am surrounded by them. My husband is a biologist, he is a “the plant man” with a green thumb. I just take pictures of what surrounds me. I enjoy life and have a great sense of humor. I take pictures of anything that I think it is pretty. I stick with inspirational themes.

7. What continues to inspire you as a photographic artist ?

Live itself. It is something from within. It is just there inside of me. I guess I am just an artist. My piano, my music, my drawings, writing, all comes from within. It is in my wiring.

8. What is the one thing that you have not captured on camera you feel you need to express?
I used to want to take pictures of birds, been there done that. Then rain drops, been there done that. Cloning, been there done that.
I guess the only thing missing on my list is the rainbows.

9. What other artists have influenced your work ?

I don’t think that consciously I have been influenced by any photographer or artist. I try to do my own thing. Since I am self taught I don’t follow rules. I just invent my own things. Since I am an attorney that made me know a lot of rules. In my photography: no rule is my rule..

10. What other talents do you possess besides photography ? And is there another area of talent you would like to explore ?

Yes. I have been playing the piano since I could reach the piano keys. My mother was a music teacher and her major was voice. I learn a lot from her. I sing. I compose. I love musicals: so I am always watching musicals. I think I have a line from a piece for
any occasion. My major in college was music. Then I went to law school because I heard that artists die in poverty: I had to protect myself! I took ballet, tap dance, acting. I love interior design. I could have become an architect if I were not math impaired… lol! I write poetry. Photography is something that I started doing more often in the last four years. Photography is just a small part of me. It is not all of me! There are other parts that are even more dominant. Art runs in my family. We all can sing. My sisters and I have sung a lot of quartets.

I am interested in film. I would like to produce and direct. But I don’t know if I will ever do it. I keep putting it off. Also there is a side of entertainment that I don’t want to get involved. The dark side. There is a lot of evil in this world. I would like to, but I have
done a lot in my life that I am content with who I am and what I have accomplished.

11. Have you met other flick rites in person, and how was the experience ?

Yes, I have met a few. But I only like about two people! LOL!
I found that the meeting turned into an international meeting of perceptions and gossip, for the most part. We really don’t know each other. We only say a few sentences to each other and make a moral judgment on that. That is so wrong. People think that they know each other, but no one does, really. I would like to meet very few people at this point. I think that disappointments have caused that. I lost the desire. There are too many cliques in Flickr: love and hate by association. I have always marched to my own drummer. I am gregarious by nature, but I have very few close friends. I am extremely private and love my solitude. When I school I loved people, I would rather be on my own. If you look at my list of contacts you can see that. I really feel sorry for people that go from place to place and meeting to meeting. I love Flickr. But there is life outside Flickr. It is great thing for Fall and cold weather. I spend less and less time visiting people. Reading what I just wrote, makes me think
that meeting people was not all that is cut out to be.

12. Any words of advice for those who would like to dig deeper into photography ?

Keep taking pictures. Learn by doing: same thing with software. I have come long ways…baby. Practice makes it perfect. Just keep at it. The key thing is not to compare oneself with other people. I think people should do their own thing instead of keep looking for ideas on Explore alone. I consider that copying not creating.

13. Of all the photos you've taken, what is your favorite and why ?

I don’t have a favorite. The one I remember the most are the ones that I discovered something, i.e.: My first reflection shot, my first self-portrait, my first drop and so on. I love them all equally. Like a parent should love their children.

14. If you could change anything on Flickr, what would it be ?

I would not change anything on Flickr. It is the ideal site. The most progressive and responsible. Flickr is a place where the administration takes responsibility. If I could
I would change the attitude of the users. People are always complaining about everything. Too many cliques, too much gossip, and too much self-promotion. I don’t like that. Work should speak for itself.

These are the photos that Rosemea want to show us in this interview:





Thanks to Rose for her friendship and the many wise advices!
She is a Flickr pillar!

Angie_real aka Angela Lobefaro