Throughout my entire journey into adulthood and up to the present, I have never seriously considered pursuing any other than some type of creative or visually related field.
After graduating from UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham), I finally escaped my roots and drove nearly 3000 miles in scenic cross-country jaunt style to sunny Los Angeles in hopes of furthering my photographic aspirations.
Here in LA, I work as a freelance photographer, shooting mostly anything that involves people. I have been involved in shooting a lot of music industry type work. Plus I've been keeping busy with making the headshots for which so many people in Los Angeles have such a great need.
All the while, I've had several photos published in magazines, on CD Covers , as well as paper mags and on-line zines, including but not limited to Mish Mash Magazine, SPIN, Noble PR, Not For Tourists, and Juxtapoz.
Yet, Fine Art Photography is still my passion. I’ve participated in many group and solo art exhibitions in LA, including many of the Cannibal Flower projects. One of my happiest pleasures, is witnessing and photographically capturing the lovely and so often amazing human form. I went so far as to even put aside my prior love of oil painting in order to focus on photography. But my passion for oil is not dead, just hibernating. I even sometimes incorporate oils into my photos by creating hand-tinted prints.
One of my other main sources of joy involves finding, listening to great music and sharing it with great people. Music that I love has a way of keeping my head from wandering into unpleasant territories. It's powerful. You might notice that these two themes, music and the human form, tend to run through the current of my work.
So, if you have not already done so, why don't you go check out the galleries!
Enjoy,
Tonya
If you want more of the extended version of my early high shool and college crapolla, continue reading...
In high school, I realized that joining a few art clubs, wearing all black, and annoying my father as much as humanly possible did not completely fuel my creative fire. So, upon graduation, I decided to pack up my belongings and leave my home in Huntsville in exchange for "the big city" of Birmingham, AL. There, I attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham and after "studying" at UAB, I received my Bachelor's Degree, majoring in Art Studio and minoring in Art History.
As a college freshman, I naturally gravitated toward drawing, oil painting, Intaglio printmaking, and ceramic sculpture. However, about a year before graduation, I discovered a photography class taught by an inspiring professor named Sonja Rieger. I immediately fell in love with the medium and most especially enjoyed working with my models. I impulsively tossed my paintbrush aside in order to embrace the allure of the darkroom.
While attending UAB, I received a scholarship to study with Melissa Springer at one of her photography workshops. Melissa is a daring photographer and sometimes controversial, yet, an amazing artist whose works include the cover of Al Gore’s coffee table book, "The Spirit of the Family," depicting a woman whose cradling an infant who died from AIDS complications not long after the photo was taken.
Also, in Alabama, my works were shown in over twenty solo, selected group, and juried exhibitions, including Bare Hands Gallery. During many of the summers, I very much enjoyed creating art projects that taught art appreciation to the children of Birmingham at the Magic City Art Connection’s Imagination Festival and also at the Freedom From Violence Festival Campaign.