Sunday Style - An Interview with Photographer Shawna C.

Happy 2010 everyone! We are kicking off the New Year on the FPOE Blog with another interview with one of our fabulously talented photographers. This week we are exploring the world of photographer Shawna Cameron.
When you step into her Etsy Shop, your view of the world is forever changed. The familiar flora and fauna in the natural world takes on a new life within her photographs. Tulips seem to dance within her images, and flowers reveal their inner-most hearts to the viewer.
Shawna took the time to talk to FPOE about her work and what lead her to her current photographic vision:

"It’s funny but I’ve always thought of myself as artistic, but never an artist," says Photographer Shawna Cameron. "Even now, with a website, and an Etsy store, and shows where I sell images to strangers, it’s hard to not mentally put quotes around 'photographer' when I describe myself as such." Yet Shawna has always dabbled in various artistic mediums. "I’ve sketched, sculpted and, especially, painted off and on for years," she said. "But even though others have seemed to like the results of these endeavors, I’ve very rarely been satisfied with my finished pieces. They so rarely turn out as I’d envisioned them when I started." However after acquiring a Canon DSLR and, later, playing with an old version of Photoshop that Shawna discovered her artistic voice. "I thought: this is what I want this image to look like. This exactly.”

FPOE
When did you realized you were a photographer?

Shawna
Originally, I bought my DSLR because I had a baby and I wanted to take good pictures of the early years of her life. It was one of the best purchases I ever made, not only because I have documented my kids’ childhoods, but I also got a good macro lens and now have tons of images that make me happy every time I look at them.

FPOE
What inspires you to pick up your camera?

Shawna
I have a Masters degree in Botany, and I love big and colourful, yet simple, art, so it’s no surprise that I take a lot of pictures of flowers – I’d say about 80% of my fine art work is floral-based. What I really like to do though, is to shoot them in a way that the resulting image is all about the colour and shape filling the frame. Many of them are quite abstract (like "Sorbet 2") and have only a tiny slice of the flower in focus (for example, "Secret Heart").

FPOE
What subjects really speak to you?
Shawna
My personal favourites are the ones that evoke an emotion: "Luminous Vessel", for instance, makes me feel somehow uplifted, and "Fiddle-dee-dee" seems to resonate with a lot of people who view it in person. As a side note, I find it interesting that these two images are among my most popular when people see them big and framed, yet receive a surprisingly smaller proportion of attention online.

FPOE
What was the process that brought you to Etsy?

Shawna
I started my Etsy shop because it already had a fairly substantial community of photographers, many of whom produced work I admired. It was also simple to set up and didn’t represent a huge investment in terms of time or money to extend my audience outside live shows. In truth I have still sold more in person than online, and I suspect that’s because my particular style has a lot more impact when it’s viewed in large format, which is the only way I display it. I have only really brought large, framed prints to shows. I’m still toying, however, with the notion of offering small prints and other products. For example, I currently have a collaboration in my shop with another Etsy photographer (HouseofSixCats) who uses four of my tulip images on ceramic coasters.

FPOE
What has your experience selling been?

Shawna
One thing I didn’t really anticipate when joining Etsy was the degree of connection to that “fairly substantial community of photographers”, and it’s been a huge bonus! As a member of both PoE and, especially, fPOE, I’ve gotten leads on resources, marketing information, inspiration from people whose style is totally different than my own, and, most importantly and above all, a real sense of belonging to a community of peers. These are things I never really managed to develop locally and I didn’t even know what I was missing out on.

FPOE
Any advice to other photographers selling on Etsy?

Shawna
If there’s one piece of advice I’d give new photographers on Etsy it would be to take advantage of opportunities to join networks and connect with peers. I will go out on an limb and say even if, like me, you don’t get tons of sales, you absolutely will still benefit from this sort of interaction!

For more information on Shawna and her work you can visit her Etsy Shop: http://www.shawnacameron.etsy.com

You can also check out her website:
http://www.shawnacameron.com

Or visit her on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shawna-Cameron-Photography/78512358961