Mounica Akula

Taking pictures was never a hobby I could turn down, I haved loved it from the minute I got my first camera and saw my first picture form it. People used to say to me that I could never take "good" pictures and that caused me to take a break from photography, but now my mind set as changed. My overall vision is for my work to inspire an audience to try and take pictures even if they never have or think that they could never take quality pictures. I got my first camera when I was around 6 years old, it was an old, bright red Kodak but I loved it. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t wishing my eyes could take photos for me when I didn’t have my camera with me; I wanted to capture my surrounding and how beautiful the things around me looked. Artists such as Andy Warhol, Steve Mccurry, and Brassai are just a few artists that have impacted my photography. These artists taught me to look at photography in a new light, think outside of the box, and helped me develop my technique to become a better photographer. Throughout the year we are required to do a certain number of Artist Renditions and, in doing these, I learned to mimic artist’ technique which in turn has helped my own technique develop. I have found that natural light is my best friend when it comes to taking good pictures. It makes the subject look real and defined versus looking a little too edged or fake. As a student photographer, not only do I want to improve my technique but I also want to shape my work to being more documentary style.I believe that this category of photography provides a much stronger raw, emotional connection then other types of photography.