Tuesday, July 15, 2008

Happy Thoughts Company

Downtown Building

All photography depicted here is by Morgan Presley, of Shreveport. Her work can be found in her little corner of the Web at Happy Thoughts Company.

How did you get started with photography?
I've always been interested in all types of art. Give me a paintbrush, a stick of charcoal, a camera; I'll give anything a try.

What inspires your work?
As silly as it may seem, the "style" of photo I've been recently inspired by were photos from an Urban Outfitters catalog I got in the mail some time ago. That accounts for about half of my photos. The other half, I suppose, were just inspired by my spontaneous urge to take pictures of random objects.

Which artists, if any, have been inspirational?
I actually don't really know of any professional photographers. Since I'm somewhat new to being a photographer myself, most of my past art works were inspired by other types artists. So, in reference to the last question, I guess that would be the photographer for Urban Outfitters catalogs.

What kind of camera do you use?
I just have your average little digital camera. A small white Kodak Easy Share digital camera. I would like to get something better, but that's what I have for now.

To Photoshop or not to Photoshop- Your thoughts?
I use IPhoto on my pictures to change the contrast a bit and for better cropping. I'm not against photoshop at all, I'm sure I'd use it if I had it. There's nothing wrong with a little touch-up.

Have you had formal art training?
In high school I had a wonderful art teacher who was very supportive of my photography interests. She would let me borrow her photography books and also let me use my own photos for my paintings and sketches. I don't know if that would really be considered "formal" training, but that's the closest thing I've done.

Have you won any awards for your work?

I have never entered any of my photos in art shows, but some of my paintings and sketches have won a few awards in regional shows.

1 comments:

randi frazier anderson said...

What an excellent new photographer-and an adorable company name! I was so amused to see she was inspired by her Urban Outfitters catalog (love UO, btw) because I'm always inspired art-wise by my Anthropologie catalogs! Nice to "meet" a kindred spirit!