Artist Statement

I took my first photograph at age 9. It was a box camera with no settings. Black and white was all we could afford. One of the few pictures that came out was a picture of my cousins in a willow tree. They looked liked dots in the final picture. I carried that for years in my wallet. 

After I was married I was the photographer of our children and vacations. I read books and magazine articles on photography. Then my husband surprised me with my first 35mm camera in 1978. I took pictures of everything. 

In the 1980’s I studied photography at LCCC. I spent all my spare time in the darkroom getting just the right prints for my portfolio. My teacher suggested I should consider selling my photos. 

Then with the encouragement of my husband, Chuck, my first photos were enlarged to 11x14. They were flowers from our Jamaican 25 anniversary vacation. We then entered Art shows to share my work with others. Why take pictures if only a few get to see it? 

I look around and see the artistry God has given us and realize many of us are too busy to notice. And the media seems to bombard us with news of crime and destruction.I know that I just want to capture the beauty of the world. Not just nature but nature with the hand of man clearly seen.We plant it, build around it, cultivate it, and sometimes I manipulate it in my camera or in the computer. My pictures show what we do with God’s gifts and how we have incorporated it into our lives. My photographs allow others to bring the peacefulness and energy of the world around us into their homes and businesses.

Penny Lisowski