Art Inspiration, Speaking to the Professional Photographers of Ontario.

As a member of the Professional Photographers of Canada, I attend regular meetings and sit on the Hamilton-Niagara board. Recently, I was asked to speak briefly at an upcoming meeting about anything I would like. I opted to talk about the meeting that inspired me most last year. This is what i had to say...

The most inspirational meeting from 2012 for me was in June when we visited the Art Gallery of Ontario. I'll admit, it wasn't a good time for me to go. It was eleven days before my wedding. I was still working on getting all my replies back and making my personalized favour tags. I had two part-time jobs and running my photography business. But I make these meetings a commitment, like any other job I take them just as seriously, even though, in this case I feel the only person I would let down by not going was myself because you never know what small piece of information you will find. 

Now, regardless of the timing, this wasn't a meeting I would have wanted to miss. Growing up art was a big part of my life. I studied art history, I drew, painted, photographed, did clay work. But as 6 years of college flew by and then 7 years of working and growing my business, I never made the time to enjoy art the way I once had. 

The only satisfaction I felt through art was when I worked with my clients... and I told myself that was enough. 
 
But it too gets stale... and the minute I walked into that Picasso exhibit a fire inside me just started... and I couldn’t put it out.

I literally walked through the entire place with my head down clicking away at the keys on my iPhone and couldn't stop writing. I wrote about what I saw; literally geometric shapes and lines, textures and colours. And I added how they made me feel; anger, happiness, longing, desperation, love, lust... 
 
I even snuck in a few photographs when the security guards weren't looking at me!
 
It was so refreshing. I honestly think it changed my soul. It reunited me with all these emotions I forgot I had.
 
I don’t know if i was supposed to talk about why i was inspired or what specifically inspired me. But this was something so personal and it affects everyone so differently that it is sometimes very hard to put into words. 
 
I guess you either have to trust in something or just try new things all the time whether you want to or not and just see what might spark in you.

Thank you for listening.