This is not an article about jewels. It’s about people. People I admire. People who inspire me. People who are on my short list of highest respect and honor.
These people:
Photo courtesy: Paul Bernstein
This image was taken on February 3 at the closing party of IUSA 2015. It was a lovely party and one of the highlights of the event was meeting up with these colleagues. Robert, Elaine and Robert are from my home state and Jim is from the NY/NJ group. (See previous article about Jim HERE).
Each of these folks is, or has been a Diamond Photographer of the Year. Multiple times. I don’t purposely peruse the Diamond POTY list to find friends – but instead find myself constantly inspired by folks who land there.
They are not just photographers, they are artists.
True artists.
They inspire me to push myself and my work to the upper limits of quality.
They inspire me to open my mind to other facets of photography.
They inspire me to get personal – really personal – with my work.
They inspire me to take risks, to explore the unknown, to launch myself into the air to grab the brass ring.
I am growing as a photographer, as an artist, as an educator and as a person because of these folks.
I am one lucky girl.