LINDA HARDING PHOTOGRAPHY
Personal projects are why I create. Whether it’s the landscapes or the feminine, I am passionate about my work.
I found photography by accident, or maybe photography found me. My freshman year of college I drove my roommate around to small towns in Arkansas, photographing her for a photography class. As I watched her throughout the day, I began to think the camera was magic. I loved the thought of capturing glimpses that are enduring through time. As soon as I could afford a camera, I began on my journey with a camera in my hand and bathrooms made into darkrooms. The camera and I have had a love affair ever since that glorious day!
As a self-taught photographer, my narrative continues to be themes of the transient, the passing of time and rebirth. Recently, the way I see with my camera and the way I interpret what I am feeling have changed. And, as it should be as I grow older, I am not the same as when I began my artist’s journey.
I see more poetry with the ordinary and I add metaphors. I see a mystery that unravels like a spool of thread in my work. I believe all images are self-portraits. They are little snippets of my life that show up in my work. Time, light and memory (experiences) really make up my photography. My inspirations and those that have influenced me are Keith Carter, Susan Burnstien, Josephine Sacabo and Sally Mann. I am enamored with the old master’s light and color palate such as Vermeer. I love the connection each of these artists share with their art and the search for the meaning of the photograph.
My biggest gift with photography has been my persistence and my love of being meticulous in the digital darkroom as well as with my love of learning. I always have doubts about what I create, but I have to let them dissipate and create art that I love. Not every image is great, but oh, when it is, I know.
Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.” -Pablo Picasso
“Wield the camera like a magic wand. Mummer a few joyful words…and on a good day, perhaps you can conjure up proof of a dream. You want to get good fast…read. You want to get even better…work, work, work harder than anyone else.” -Keith Carter, ee cummings
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