STEAMY WINDOW; Professional photographer, Lily Mayfield, captured this priceless image of her then 6-year-old daughter creatively expressing herself at home. This photo was selected for publication in the PRAIRIE LIGHT REVIEW Spring 2021 edition issued by College of DuPage. It is Lily's first appearance in it. Scroll down for more...
While in high school, Lily Mayfield enjoyed learning black and white dark room techniques, but didn’t give photography much more thought despite her father’s photojournalist career at a busy newspaper.
However, a college trip to Havana, Cuba gave her a new perspective. She spent every free moment taking photos and began to realize that photography could be a career option for her as well.
“During that trip, I shot 10 rolls of black and white film,” she recalls. “It took months for me to process all the images. That’s when I decided to change my major from English to Fine Art.”
Using her two main cameras, Canon 6D or SONY a7, her favorite subjects to shoot are people and portraiture along with capturing people interacting with their surroundings.
Today, Lily teaches photography part time at Columbia College in Chicago, IL and thoroughly enjoys working with students.
“They inspire me to make my own work better,” she says.
Other inspiration stems from working with light – the quality and colors it produces either naturally or artificially. Additionally, photography also provides an opportunity to freeze time.
“It gives you the ability to preserve a moment that is quickly changing and passing right in front of you,” she adds.
As a busy mother, she always keeps a camera nearby never knowing when that next moment worth preserving will appear. With two children, ages 8 and 4, she says that she continually feels the need to document what she sees with them, because time is so fleeting.
“I want to preserve the things that are important to me, especially when it comes to my children,” Lily says.
ENCOURAGING WORDS TO ARTISTS FROM LILY:
“What’s your passion? What excites you, worries or concerns you? There are pictures all around you. All you have to do is just take the time to stop and look. Pause and observe. Interesting subject matter is often right there, right in front of you.”
Good advice for all – no matter what your medium of choice!
LEARN MORE ABOUT LILY HERE: Lily Mayfield Photography
TENTATIVE' 16" x 24" ; archival inkjet print
HIDE AND SEEK; 16" x 24" archival inkjet print
BROKEN LAWNMOWER; 16" x 24" archival inkjet print
WAITING FOR FIREWORKS; 15" x 24" archival inkjet print
Photographer, LILY MAYFIELD, finds inspiration all around her.
