Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Emma Doing. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Emma thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Let’s talk legacy – what sort of legacy do you hope to build?

My professor Thomas Carabasi once quoted Emmet Gowin, his college professor and well established photographer, he said that “If you don’t tell your story, then it won’t be seen and it won’t be heard.” This quote always stuck with me as it reminds me that there is something deeply unique about my life that I can share with the world. No one will ever see nor experience life as I do.

My recent photographic work, and senior thesis, is about my struggle with anxiety and the uncertainty of my identity. I am not the same person I was three days ago, three months ago, nor three years ago. My self portraiture in this long term project is meant to test my faith in my abilities and teach me to accept myself as I am in that moment. I may never fully know who I am, yet this uncertainty is the most unique and beautiful part of me.

I want the legacy of my art to be a symbol of accepting change and seeing the beauty of fluidity. I want others to see my work and to be inspired to accept whatever change is happening in their life. Whether it is your appearance, your gender, your values, or your actions, you should not hold yourself to the standard of yesterday’s you, but to rise above it and become who you want to be tomorrow. Although you may change a thousand times, the most important part is that you tell your story, and that you write it with authenticity and conviction in that moment.

Emma, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a Photographer and Fine Artist based in St. Petersburg, Florida focusing on self-portraiture and poetry. I grew up on a farm in Myersville, Maryland, a small rural community in the Appalachian Mountains. Although I grew up mainly teaching myself to paint, draw, and photograph, I have found comfort in every artistic medium.

I fell into photography through a high school friend who was a huge film buff and would often take photos of our friend group when we’d hang out. Although he inspired me to pick up a camera, I didn’t start photographing consistently until I realized how to use my images to support my love for painting. This led me to creating lots of portraits of friends and family and then translating them into paintings.

At 16 I graduated a year early from high school in Maryland so that I could move to Florida with my family. This was one of the biggest changes I have ever experienced. After six months of living in Florida, COVID hit and I was even more isolated than I already was. This experience changed the way I saw myself and what I wanted to do with my art. I took a chance on my abilities and applied to Ringling College of Art and Design. Today I am one semester away from graduating with a Bachelors in Photography and a Minor in Fine Arts. I plan on pursuing a career in fine art photography and becoming a freelance artist when I graduate in May 2024.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The community of artists that I surround myself with and have found over the past three years has been the most rewarding aspect of being an artist. They keep me inspired, and I am always one step away from getting a meaningful critique or an uplifting compliment from them. Although it came through my experience as a student at Ringling College of Art and Design, I still believe it is important to surround yourself with various different artists and perspectives. Some of the best critiques I have gotten about my work were from students in a completely different major than me. Being open to criticism is never easy, especially if your art is personal, but I learned that it will only benefit me as an artist to understand their perspective and work with it- not against it.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

The hardest thing I had to do in school was to unlearn what I thought made a great picture.

For the longest time, and before I went to art college, I thought a great picture had a perfect exposure and was made with the best camera money can buy. While yes, you can surely make an award winning image with those two elements, but then you must learn how to do that consistently on a technical level. I had a moment during critique where I thought everyone would love my favorite image because it was my most technically challenging photo. However this was far from the case, in fact, everyone loved my least favorite. The image in question had very little technique involved, yet I remember taking it because something just felt right in the moment.

Some of the greatest images were made on a whim and with little staging or preparation. As I learned to control my medium on a technical level, I equally had to learn when and how to let go of this control. I had to leave room for miracles, because there is beauty in the chance moment when you do. When you let go and stop controlling everything in the image you learn how to harmonize with your intuition. To create a great image you must feel it, acknowledge it, and chase after it with passion and precision.

Contact Info:

• Website: emmadoing.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/doinggsomething/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-doing/