My Life as an Artist
by Kimberly Deprey

One of my first memories of photography was looking up at a big white screen that my parents would unpack and setup on occasion in our living room.  There they would project slides of their trips to places such as the Poconos and Niagara Falls.  I must have been about four or five at the time.  I remember looking at these images and thinking how lifelike they appeared.  Those photographs brought the waterfall right into our family room, and I was awestruck!

When I was about eight years old I begged my parents for a camera and finally the day came when I was given my very own Polaroid instant camera.  I remember that camera clearly to this day.  The way it felt in my hands, the way the Polaroid smelled and how the image would magically appear before your eyes instantaneously. I would pretend that I was a famous photographer for National Geographic, photographing animals and plants in my backyard.  A few years later the sad day came when my camera malfunctioned and “broke”. I was at a carnival and when I took a photograph three Polaroid sheets came flying out and onto the ground. I was crushed.  

Looking back now this was truly the turning point of photography in my life.  My parents, seeing how devastated I was, decided to "hand down" their 35mm SLR camera to me.  I was ecstatic!  What I did not realize however that to use it I would need to learn the technical side of photography, and up until that time I thought that the camera would just take care of all of this for me and I could just create my beautiful pictures..

After a few disappointing rolls of poorly exposed film my mother arranged to have me study with a close family friend who was also a photographer. It was Anita who first explained to me how a lens operates and what a camera shutter was.  I would go out and take photographs of nature and present them to her and she would critique and explain how I could technically and visually improve them.  I was twelve at the time.

The next summer Anita approached my mother with an idea.  Could I assist her with wedding photography?  My mother shared the news and before she had the words out of her mouth I was running for the phone to speak with Anita to find out when the next wedding was.  There I was, all of thirteen years old, carrying around camera bags and helping brides with their gowns and veils.

I continued assisting with the weddings into high school.  While in high school I took every art course and every photography course that was offered, and I became the school photographer for the yearbook.  I carried my camera with me every moment of every day. After graduating high school I took some time before deciding to attend the Hallmark Institute of Photography in Massachusetts. Hallmark was and still is a “boot camp” for photographers.  You study under the most talented photographic artists in the world.

I look at my time at Hallmark Institute as a real turning point for me as a photographer and in my personnel life.  Hallmark is where I met Steve and from that point on we have both been working together for years studying the art of photography and refining our craft as artists.

Photography for me is a form of art where instead of putting hand to canvas you are putting light to film. I’ve learned over these two decades that there is no magic that happens in the camera.  If the scene is not brilliant in front of your own eyes then the final resulting image will not sing praises. If it takes seconds, minutes, hours or even days to wait for the perfect light and to discover the perfect scene then that’s what it takes. 

~Kimberly Deprey