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Submitted by mimi 01/29/08 5:50 AM GMT
I am delighted to announce the next artist to shine in the spotlight. Her username is so short, the search engine doesn't recognize it, but her works of art are long on beauty and many are very easily and quickly recognized.
I present to you JQ aka Jan
Please take some time to peruse her gallery amd leave her warm words below.
I am stunned and amazed , flattered and honoured (wow I bet you all didn’t know I knew so many descriptive words, ) I got picked to be artist of the month this month :-)
I had a huge grin when I read the PM from Mimi to say I had got the most nominations this month! So thank you to everyone that voted for me! I have to write this biography, and I’m not the greatest at writing about myself but here goes…! Ooerrr missus!
My real name is Janet, (only called that by my mother these days) , everyone else calls me Jan. I have two kids, Annie is 13 and Alice is 16. They describe me as old and weird :-), a description I don’t mind apart from the old bit! I will be 43 this year, boo hoo.... But they say life begins at 40 and although it’s a couple of years late, I have just qualified as a reflexologist which I love doing. I have worked as a secretary in a podiatary practice for the last (almost) 8 years, so the reflexology thing ties in quite well, I now have my own treatment room at the clinic which I finished a couple of weeks ago. I live with my kids, my akita (Koda) and my partner Richard. I was married for 15 years but… lol… that’s another story. Aside from photography I paint pictures as some of you will know already, I’m not very conventional or girly, I have 8 tattoos, I like Stephen King and I love watching movies and listening to many types of music from heavy rock to psytrance. I can find things to laugh about most days, I like a laugh, once I start I can't stop (it’s a bit like eating chocolate :-) yum!) can’t take anything toooooo seriously you never know what might happen tomorrow.
I bought my first camera when I was 18 and had left home, a Practika MTL5 , (there’s a blast from the past), I updated it to another Practika which I can't remember the name of… and it served me well. I dunno why I got a camera, I just thought I fancied one at the time, but have been hooked ever since, I take photos of everything. Currently I use a Canon EOS 400d, I have 28-55mm Canon lens, a Sigma 600mm mirror lens, sigma 100mm macro lens, Sigma 10-20mm wide angle and a Sigma 70-300mm zoom and of course I have my infamous infra red filter (currently misplaced, oops). I’m not that technical when I take shots, I just find what I’m going to shoot and do it, whether it’s technically perfect or not, I often think my best shots have been the most random , driving around in the car......stoppppppppppp!! I gotta take that shot! I have been a member of this site for a couple of years now, originally under a different name, I uploaded one shot and then forgot my username and password so created another one! (managed to remember the username and password this time) :-). I came across a link to Caedes when I was reading a blog somewhere, I clicked and soon became addicted, I browsed and downloaded for a while before I even dare post a shot or make a comment. I hope my photography has improved a lot since I started posting here, the comments I have received and the photography and art I have seen here have inspired me to try new stuff and expand my shooting and editing skills and the fact that everyone is friendly made such a difference to my confidence. It’s also nice to see other people improving as time goes on and I know a lot of people get a lot out out of this site despite the dreaded C-Index. My favourite photograph of mine is probably (currently) Row, (a random drive round Norfolk one morning to catch the sunrise) which I used as the background for my business cards and literature, looks great on a business card and really stands out and I am also quite fond of my jellyfish shots because I’d wanted to take pictures of them for a while, I find them fascinating.
Inspiration and help has come from all corners of the site, I’m not going to name names, there are far too many people that I admire and who’s work I enjoy (You know who you are)!
I’m really looking forward to the Caedes meeting in April this year, organized by the lovely Nigel, it should be a ball to meet everyone that's going!
Anyway, that’s it, before this turns into a “ novelette” or you all fall asleep :-) grin
Thanks to you lovely lot, for the laughs with Walters and Foofy Fridays and Bobs Benches. You make this a great place to be!
Jan
