In a nutshell:

I take pictures. All the pictures are taken by me.  Also, I am Zoe. I live in Brooklyn, NY.  I grew up in Ohio. I’ve lived in Baltimore. I’ve traveled in India.  I have the best tattoo you’ll ever see.  I teach ESL.  I love getting messages. 

Technical crap:

• Camera: Nikon D90, Fuji x100
• Lenses: Nikkor 35mm F2, off-brand 8mm, half broken 18-55mm
• Post-processing: Lightroom, GIMP

Further reading:

I’ve been photographing everything around me since about 2004.  It started with a film class I took in college and the love continued with a Canon Powershot in 2005.  When I exhausted all possibilities with that, I searched long and hard on the internet for the cheapest and best DSLR I could find.  On a rainy December evening in 2008, I met a stranger from Craigslist at Dunkin Donuts on Essex Street (he was 15 minutes late) with $800 worth of twenty dollar bills in tow.  He arrived, I handed him the ridiculous pile of bills and he handed me a box full of Nikon D90 goodness.  Thus began what I consider my real photographic journey. 

Composition, color, shadows, highlights, age, decay, texture, trash, stories, rust, brick, skin, cities, and life in general are my inspirations.  I have found that conventionally beautiful people and things do not inspire me as much as I’d like.  Emotion also inspires me.  I tend to create some powerful self portraits during moments of anxiety and/or depression.  Music has also motivated me to take self portraits.  Without sadness or melody (as separate entities) I would probably never take self portraits.  I think it is very important for all artists to create self portraits.  For reasons one day I might understand enough to explain.

My father once told me that I could probably never work for a tourism board because I photograph the “less desirable” parts of cities.  That was a proud day for me.  My best friend recently asked me what I plan on doing with my photography and my reply was “I have no idea.  I’m just lucky to have it in the first place.”  I feel like photography is a “who you know, not how good you are” kind of market. And you really can’t rely on anyone besides yourself.  That isn’t so good if you’re the kind of person who has…motivational and existential issues.  I really do wish there was a pill I could take to get me motivated enough to sell myself.  I went to college to learn how to teach children art, not promote my own talents.  One day I’ll teach art again but [edited for time].