Embracing Elements

As a child, I dreamt of being a storm chaser when I grew up. As long as I can remember, my greatest joy was sitting on the picnic table to watch the western sto...
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As a child, I dreamt of being a storm chaser when I grew up. As long as I can remember, my greatest joy was sitting on the picnic table to watch the western storms clouds bring sheets of rain across our hay field. On a humid Ohio July evening, those droplets of cool rain on my face felt more deeply of life than anything else. Looming clouds were soaked in orange and pink sunset light and in the east, more times than I can count, rainbows shone across the eastern sky. When I was about eight years old, I started recreating these emotive scenes in a canvas art journal with watercolors; and by the time I was a young teenager, I found photography. The camera became a vehicle for me to journal and relate to my sky-induced feelings. And in the middle of a saddening drought, with no storms and rain for months, I started photographing everything else—flowers, water, our pets, and my little sisters. I printed my photos, put them in albums, in frames, and hung them all over my bedroom.
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