The Creative Collective: Interview with the Artist: Anita Miller, Winner of the April Art/Craft Contest!

1. Tell us about yourself

I received my first camera when I was 12, from that moment my love of photography grew. I enjoy capturing just about anything that I can with my camera. For me, everything I see is a picture that is waiting to be captured. Sometimes, I see the photo as a story that is waiting to be told. Other times, I see the photo as a painting that is waiting to be created. I will spend any amount of time to trying capture the image as I have pictured it in my mind. I tend to lose myself completely when I am taking pictures. It is like my camera becomes extension/part of me and I think it is because of that, I am able to capture beautiful images.

2. How would you describe your work?

If I were to use three words to describe my work, I would use dreamy, peaceful, and revealing. Peaceful, because that is how I feel when I am taking the photographs. Dreamy because I can see the image in my mind before I take the first picture. I say revealing because through each picture that I take, I feel like I am revealing a little bit more of who I am. When I am behind my camera, that is when I am most vulnerable.

3. What is the inspiration behind your art?

Nature inspires me, how everything changes from season to season. I think that maybe it because everything is always changing that every image feels like it is the first picture I took. I can spend hours taking pictures of the same subject matter in order to capture that one image or series of images that I have pictured in my mind before I started.

4. Who do you admire?

Georgia O'Keefe, I love her nature images and how she captured trees in both living and dying phases. Annie Griffiths, I love just about every image that she captures especially nature and travel photographs.