Empty Chairs

EMPTY CHAIRS Student, Photographer 2014 - Present

SKILLS: Photography Skills. Perspective. Creativity. Storytelling. Black and White. Intuition.

CHALLENGE

ACTION

During college photography classes, began spending hours playing around and practicing taking photos.
While waiting at the airport, flying from home back to school, I found myself contemplating the rows of chairs, with many travelers coming and going, and I also had a photography assignment due in two days.
I noticed the play of light and shadows, the geometric arrangement and how both the space and story changed when travelers stood up and left behind empty chairs.
I seized and captured the moment in black and white with the only camera I had at the moment, my phone
I used it for my assignment that week and had genuinely exciting conversation with my professor.
This one picture of chairs has inspired me to continue to make many more, though none of them are planned. They have always been and will continue to be something that is captured in the spur of the moment. Empty chairs can have a lot to say like: “that’s where a person goes;” “what’s happening there/what’s been happening there?;” “I wonder what conversations those chairs have seen…” leaving the viewer curious for more.
I started looking for more of these moments, capturing a whole series during college, and have continued to capture those “empty chair” moments when I come across them to this day.

RESULT

I impressed my hard-to-impress photography professor by following my own artist intuition, based on a strong foundation of learned and practiced skills.
I created my first series of photos under a unified, uniquely Kelsey vision.
I honed my skills to a level to become a professional photographer as my career.