”You like playing around with your camera, right?”
Those were the words brought Red Vixen Studios into existence.
I have always had a passion for photography ever since I picked up my grandfather’s ancient Kodak Brownie for the first time in the early 1970s and put a couple of rolls of film through it.
Whether it was taking pictures of commercial jets on Frontage Road near Orlando International Airport (KMCO) whilst at university or snapping some pictures whilst on holiday, I never truly lost the desire to capture THAT MOMENT where you know that you’ve imaged something special that will never be seen exactly in that light and in that way ever again.
Fast forward to 2012 and my sister had just started working at the Gilbert Theatre in downtown Fayetteville NC and she was wondering if I would come round one evening with my camera and shoot the dress rehearsal for a production called “Life As We Know It” so they’d have some promo shots as well as archive stills of the sets and costumes for future productions of the show.
As I’m getting the camera ready for the rehearsal to start, I meet Robyne Parrish who was the Gilbert’s Artistic Director at the time. Gorgeous does not begin to properly describe that impossibly tall and beautiful red-headed lady but you can’t help feeling like the brightest star on Broadway in her beloved New York City when you’re standing in her presence. It’s kind of hard not to when you’re wrapped up in a tight hug and she’s telling me things like she’s so glad I could come round and that she was looking forward to seeing what the camera would capture.
The first half of the show was a blur and at intermission I’m in the green room unloading the pictures onto their computer and asking if she or the show’s director have any notes for the second half of the show.
Just before the lights went down after intermission, she came back into the theatre with this beautiful smile I will never forget as long as I live.
“Just keep doing what you’re doing…everyone *LOVES* your photos!”
That was the moment this computer programmer by trade became an artist at heart.
Robyne has a way of seeing things in the core of a person’s soul that they never had any inkling was there and encourage it to come out to play whether it’s on stage or in the technical areas or in this case someone looking through a viewfinder with their finger on the shutter release.
There is no way this IT geek by training and occupation would have ever imagined that photo shoot in December 2012 would turn into a seven year run of shooting every production the Gilbert would stage until 2019!
Since then, I’ve photographed dance recitals and sporting events, pictures shot whilst on holiday and lightning strikes, and pretty much everything in between including a couple of very memorable weddings.
It is a rare rare event where I don’t have some sort of camera in my hand and I’m looking at the scene not only looking to produce the best image I can but also capture the feelings that tell the story.
It might be something as subtle as how the light is interacting with the subject or a fleeting facial expression or some beautiful colour combinations that stir your memories and your soul or something that just makes you want to laugh until you fall on the floor.
That is the beauty of art and it’s something I’ve always known was a part of me at a visceral level but it took one phone call and a trip to Fayetteville with a camera bag to believe that I not only could be an artist, I always was one at heart and have never looked at the world in quite the same way ever again.
So thank you to my sister who made the call, to Lynn Pryer for founding and creating a truly wonderful and special place in downtown Fayetteville where artists of all persuasions can come and play and create beautiful art for the community, and especially to Robyne Parrish who believed and encouraged a nerdy and kind of nervous programmer doing their first real professional photo shoot could plausibly be the artist they never knew they were.
Red Vixen Studios would not exist without you! 🙂
