Thoughts
On Being a Photographer
I have been a photographer all my adult life. It has been, continues to be, a challenging, rewarding, exciting pursuit. I noticed early on that there was always more to learn about this craft. It's still true. I am still learning.
What does it look like when I am photographing? I have always been drawn to the beauty of natural light, what is known in our craft as "available light." So if you come upon me in my studio I will be at a table by a window, my subjects illuminated by skylight or sunlight. If it is a room I am photographing rather than some small object, window light or lamp light is still my preferred source. I have a trunk full of lights, just in case. I never use them. If I am outside, most often you will find me in the early dawn or late day light, truly magic times of day.
There have been a variety of cameras in my bags and backpacks throughout the years - 35mm (including a panoramic Widelux), 2¼x2¼ medium format, 4x5 large format, and more recently a digital SLR and digital compact. A tripod has often been my constant companion, though of late I have been rediscovering the wonders of "hand-holding".
I began in the darkroom watching black and white paper miraculously come to life in trays of chemistry. Soon I discovered color and for many years I made Ilfochrome (Cibachrome) prints - a traditional, and exquisitely beautiful color process. Now I am embracing the digital universe and am fascinated by its own distinct characteristics. At least for now, my darkroom has become a lightroom.
I have been exhibiting off and on since my early days as a photographer. I have always had a desire to share. I love making images. If I can touch someone through my work, that's the best.
On Being a Speaker
I have a long history as a photographer, a short one as a speaker, but one is beginning to feel inextricably intertwined with the other.
Many of us are compelled by what we see - life's scenes and all their myriad of details that are forever in front of us. I find myself compelled, too, by the nature of our internal experience as we witness and respond to these things outside of us. Simply said, I love what I see and I love what happens to me when I am seeing. I have noticed, for example, that to be in a state of wonder is to pay attention. And I have noticed that paying attention is pure pleasure, fosters excellence, and can transform a life.
I want to shout this from the rooftops. So I am speaking.
Biography
Celia Pearson has been a fine art and assignment photographer for three decades. While pursuing undergraduate studies at Swarthmore College and then Georgetown University, Pearson began to study photography with Dick Bond in Annapolis, Maryland. Bond's lectures sparked a passion that would define her adult life.
Pearson began to show in galleries almost right away, and then in 1979 she founded an assignment business, Pearson Photography. She turned her attention to free-lancing, gradually mastering medium and large format film-based photography and becoming an accomplished black-and-white and color printer.
Fifteen years ago two significant changes occurred. Pearson established an assignment specialty: photographs of designed spaces created around natural light. She has earned a national reputation for her images of interiors, architecture, and gardens. Her portfolio, pearsonphotography.com, has included publications such as Metropolitan Home, Southern Accents, Coastal Living, Chesapeake Life, Chesapeake Home, Style Magazine, and Residential Architect. In 2004 Pearson was the principal photographer for the coffee table book Wayne L. Good, Architect: Tradition, Elegance, Repose, a monograph published in four languages. Recently her focus has shifted away from this concentration although she continues to accept some assignments.
Simultaneously, as she was developing her assignment specialty, Pearson returned to her "inner driven" work, the source of her initial inspiration. She began to show in galleries again as she had in her early days. Pearson's affinity for photographing with the camera often only inches from her subjects is well known. Trips to Southeast Asia in 2008 and 2009, which she describes as transforming, have sent her in new directions of making photomontages and printing on other materials. Her Asia work was exhibited for the first time in November 2010. The artist's work has been shown in galleries in Maryland, Delaware, Massachusetts, Florida, and Washington, DC., and is in the permanent collections of the Academy Museum of Art in Easton, Maryland, The New Bedford Museum of Glass in New Bedford, Massachusetts, and the Cape Cod Museum of Art in Dennis, Massachusetts.
In 2003 Richard LaMotte, writer and publisher of Pure SEA GLASS, invited Pearson to be his book's principal photographer. Relased in 2004 by Sea Glass Publishing, over 90,000 copies of Pure SEA GLASS have sold to date - an unprecedented success for a self-published book. Once introduced to this unique subject, Pearson was intrigued and began to create a new body of fine art images inspired by sea glass. In the years since she has photographed several exceptional collections, recently traveling to the Liguria region of Italy in 2010 to make images of a remarkable collection there.
Five years ago Pearson added another dimension to her life's work when she began to accept speaking engagements. Accompanied by images, of course, and rooted in her artist's journey, her talks reflect her wonder for the visible world and her understanding that the simple act of paying attention can be a path to pleasure, excellence, and even transformation.
Pearson lives in Annapolis, Maryland. She is a member of ASMP (American Society of Media Photographers) and the Maryland Federation of Art, where she served on the board as fundraising chair for four years. In mid-career Pearson received an honorary YWCA TWIN Award (Tribute to Women and Industry). As a result of the book Pure SEA GLASS Pearson's work came to the attention of Maryland Public Television and was the subject of a segment on ArtWorks in October 2004. Pearson was the 2007 recipient of the Arts Council of Anne Arundel County's Annie Award for Visual Arts.