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Submitted by Samatar 11/26/05 11:21 PM GMT
This week, mesmerized was the clear winner of Artist of the week with four nominations. Please visit her gallery when you get a chance and give her a week to remember. Have fun Pat! Here is the biography Mesmerized spent some time compiling for our reading pleasure:
Pat: Hello my friends…to say I was quite surprised to find myself nominated as the next AOTW would indeed be something of an understatement. I was, in fact, flabbergasted upon first learning of this and still can’t quite believe it, especially coming fast on the heels of such artists as Paul, Nathan, and Michael, and with so many other members on site far more talented and worthy than I. Therefore, I can only say that I am profoundly humbled and honored by this recognition and ask that you please bear with me while I attempt to put together this bio for you at a time when I suddenly feel myself at a loss for words. I guess I’ll begin by saying that while many of you know me as Pat, my proper name, of course, is Patricia and I live in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with my husband Bob and our two children, Adam and Ashley, ages 18 and 19 respectively. Within our domain also resides two ‘shady characters’ by the names of Bo and Peter…Bo being our 10-year old, all white, male cat, and Peter, our 11-year old budgie. When not eating or sleeping, Bo can frequently be seen tearing around our condominium at break-neck speed or expressing his peculiar aversion to any doors closed to him by pounding on them with both paws going full force. Peter, though admittedly cute, especially when showing off his impressive vocabulary, may be the least among us in size but certainly not when it comes to vocal chords that easily rival those of any parrot if he feels he isn’t getting enough attention. Imagine, if you will, that included in this mix is a very talkative husband, a salesman by profession, employed in the real estate field, and two teenagers with stereos typically blaring away and you will have some sense of the environment in which I often find myself. Is it any wonder I frequently seek solace in some park or refuge in this ‘wonderful world of wallpaper’ lol. Seriously though, my kids are my pride and joy, seldom giving me any trouble and consistently making me proud with their high marks in school. Both plan on entering university next fall, my daughter being talented in the languages and art, my son excelling in math, business, and computers. As for me, some of my interests apart from photography include reading, writing, guitar, religion, and herbal remedies. My early work history consists of various office jobs, in the area of administrative assistant, customer service, and switchboard…nothing too exciting there. The last 3 years or so, I have enjoyed the convenience of working from home assisting my husband with the administrative end of the real estate business…he hates computers…and putting in a few hours every week working for the Diabetes Association. With so much freedom and flexibility in my schedule, I often have lots of opportunity to ‘play’ on the computer and like many of you, first stumbled onto this site approximately 2 years ago while searching for some good desktop wallpaper. I was immediately blown away by the vast storehouse of top-notch images available to me here, kept coming back for more, and eventually became a member in the spring/summer of ’04, choosing the username ‘mesmerized’ to reflect my feelings on the continual feast of imagery before my eyes. Though terribly lacking in technical know-how, and feeling more than a little intimidated by the excellent work of the many fine photographers on this site, I was nonetheless curious as to what kind of feedback I might get so in time, I worked up the courage to submit my first images to the site, the first being relatively clear, but admittedly too small for wallpaper and terribly cluttered by way of composition; some being merely scanned images originally taken with a Canon 35mm and some with a Kodak Easy Share digital. Nevertheless, they were received with kind encouragement and gentle but much needed criticism. Well, to make a long story short, I became hooked on the images, the warm friendship I have found here, and the willingness of others to share their knowledge and help those like me improve with constructive feedback and many a fine tutorial I have since found and saved on my hard drive. In the last several months I have been using my husbands’ Nikon D100 and have been so much more pleased with the superior results that I want to keep it all for myself, lol. I will be the first to admit that I still have A LOT to learn, but slowly through trial and error I am learning what does and doesn’t work. Believe me, I have many ‘mistakes’ in my collection…so many in fact, I could keep us going for several more sequels to the “Breaking the Rules” contest, lol. As to how and when my interest in photography began, it’s hard to say really. It all started innocently enough somewhere back in my teenage years armed with a cheap Polaroid or Kodak instamatic taking photos of people, places, and events important to me and somehow progressed from there. As far back as I can remember, I have always had a great love of nature and a strong creative urge, which no doubt contributed in part. Some years ago I also had a friend who took some courses in photography and had a dark room in her home where she turned out some excellent black and whites, and while there are more than a few great photographers to be admired, the name Ansel Adams easily comes to mind after having seen a documentary on his life and works and thinking to myself, “Wow, I wish I could do that”. I would be remiss if I didn’t include the inspiration and valuable lessons I have learned since becoming a member on this site as a definite contributing factor in my growing knowledge and love of photography. Well, I started this by saying I was at a loss for words. It now seems I could go on forever, lol. Perhaps its time I wrap this up now by thanking everyone for this wonderful acknowledgement and encouraging others new to photography to keep at it. Don’t be afraid to share your images here. There are many fine people willing to help you improve. And guess what, there are STILL times for me when just as people here may be thinking to themselves, “gee, she’s getting good at this” and then I’ll go and upload one that really needs some serious criticism! We are here to share, learn, and enjoy. To conclude, my highest compliments to caedes and all it’s members for making this an outstanding community of artists of which I am proud to be a part. Pat.
