Everyone gets his or her inspiration from somewhere, for Kelli Norris it came from a mother who was a gifted painter and had a knack for turning the usual into the beautiful. She uses has displayed her own talent of capturing the world around her through a Canon DSLR instead of a paintbrush.I was curious to know why a student would choose to pursue photography and digital media. So I sat down with her recently to explore the motivation behind the madness.
Kelli K. Norris
So what are your current academic credentials?
I am currently studying Electronic Media at University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music. This program focuses on all aspects of electronics and digital media from web design, to film and audio production, to broadcasting.(Additionally she is pursuing a second degree in philosophy)
How did you originally realize you wanted to pursue fine arts and photography?
I have always been actively participating in the arts in some form or another whether it was dancing, singing, acting, or visual art. I started becoming particularly interested in photography in high school when I was asked to shoot photographs for the newspaper and yearbook. Being behind the camera felt natural to me, so I began to develop my skills as well as my own personal style.
Recently we discussed Cindy Sherman’s portrait photography and you expressed disgust at the idea of portrait photography, could you expand on your view of ‘artistic’ portraiture?
In my opinion, portraits should always capture the essence of the subject. I have seen a lot of commercial “portraits”, where no real feeling or personality is coming through. I’d say my own portrait photography is more documentary style than commercial. I prefer to shoot portraits candidly when a subject is at work doing what they love.
What is your inspiration? Do you have any particular artist that guide your eye?
I am most inspired by my subjects, but there are definitely artists that influence my work. To start, I love the work of Yousuf Karsh who was a most famous Armenian-Canadian portrait photographer who truly had a gift for capturing the essence of any subject.
As for a more contemporary artist, Charles Krebs is fantastic. Charles has made a name for himself going beyond macro photography to what he calls “Photomicrography”- shooting photographs through a microscope. His work is inventive to say the least. You could be captivated by one of his photos for hours, and still have no idea what it actually is.
I noticed the influence from Krebs in some of your macrophotography you displayed recently, could you explain more about the show you participated in?
I recently participated in an art showcase for a national organization called RawArtists. The organization’s mission is to help budding artists network within the art community and display their work to the public. It was an amazing experience. Having strangers compliment and critique my work was truly thrilling. Overall, it seemed that people want to see more, and that’s really the best news I could hope for.
Kelli gave me the impression that her work was an expression of the photographer and the situations in which she works. As a student she is expanding her technical understanding and as an artist she is pursuing the public acclaim that is necessary to be respected.
Help Kelli Pursue her passion!
1. Go to www.RAWartists.org/Kellikdesign
2. Click REGISTER at the top of the page
2. Input a valid email address (only have to do this once)
3. Verify the email address by checking your email and confirming it
4. Log-on with your new registation and vote for me once a day, everyday from now ’til October 15th.
You can also view more of her work through the capture Cincinnati website at http://www.capturecincinnati.com/users/KelliKDesign
Scarlett Goes Midwest 