INTRODUCING LIZ BROWNE
I grew up in Venice Beach a small area of Los Angeles, California. Venice was interesting and an eclectic place for a kid to grow up in, there was always so much to see and tension to feel, but just road my bike around till the sun went down and I never realized what effect the city had on me till now… At almost 23. It’s strange to think about the moment when I discovered photography because it wasn’t something I had totally asked to do. My mother put me in a photography class in the neighborhood art center when I was 11. I had some interest in the camera itself before, walking around with my grandmother’s old Rollei looking through the ground glass, but no more curiosity than any other child. After I got my pictures back from our class trips around the neighborhood, I just really enjoyed what I could do and capture. That was the summer that started it. Actually, what made me start taking pictures was having a camera. I have goals of pushing my photography, and creating new ways to get the end image, projects I want to work on with others and ultimately keeping myself content about this life doing something I enjoy. Since I started taking photos my view of my surroundings has changed. I look at things in a constant lens, everything has some naturally created composition…yeah that sounds totally silly but it’s true. Other than that, the people I have met doing and participating in photography have changed my life and I thank them. It would be nice to get paid for my work and be around my friends and family, travel here and there, yeah that sounds nice. I don’t like to talk equipement because it’s too painful and not in my range of attainment. Though I have one of my fetish cameras, which is my beloved and overused Contax T2. This is a photograph of my brother and his truck as we are stopped at a gas station off the 5 highway trying to drive down from San Francisco back to Los Angeles after a long summer. This picture carries a kind of emotional purge of sorts, the happiness of a great summer ending, meeting someone who changed my life, struggles of life represented in the struggle of the truck and the appreciation of moments like this, to be nowhere and somewhere at the same time. I have to say there is so much amazing photographic work, it’s overwhelming and wonderful. I think we should always know where we’re coming from, so everyone should know this man: William Eggleston, he changed my life and don’t try looking at his photos online, go find a book in the library…
