From the middle of nowhere to somewhere... else

Deedra Hall's scholarship 2011 entry

Greece | Monday, November 7, 2011 | 5 photos

My name is Deedra Hall and I’ve been teaching English abroad in Ukraine for over a year. I have found so many stunning and fascinating things about this country, from the landscapes and cities to the culture and language. I love traveling and photography because I enjoy capturing the feeling of a particular place at a specific moment in time. I love how the beauty of a landscape can change depending on the season and the time of day, like Claude Monet captured in his series of “Haystacks” paintings. I take inspiration from many people and places; sometimes I’m inspired by what I’ve learned in my art and art history classes at university. While there are times that I’m inspired by photos I see in National Geographic and other magazines. There are many times that I’m solely inspired by the feeling my environment gives me; I experience this artistic need to capture it with my creative eye. I want to go everywhere with my photography; I would absolutely love to travel the entire world! I think I see the world “in a different light” than most people and I would like to share my perspective with them. Ever since I picked up a National Geographic magazine for the first time, I thought the most amazing job in the world would be working as a photographer for them. I’m kind of an idealist; perhaps I have a tendency to represent things as they could be, rather than as they are, as well as, seek to portray a mental conception of beauty. I try to find beauty in all things. Things that the average person wouldn’t find intriguing, I find character in. I’m capable of capturing emotion and expressing it in my photography so that others feel it and sense that they were there. The photos I have uploaded are from my two week summer vacation from Athens to Plakias, Crete, Greece.