one of my favourite things about her photos is the muted colours and the sense of serenity. all of the photos featured in this interview are currently for sale in her shop; clicking on the image will bring you back to the etsy listing.
enjoy, and happy monday! what fun things did you get up to this weekend?
Name: Deirdre Butler-Derby
Location: Minneapolis, MN
01. Tell us a bit about yourself.
Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec by Irish parents who couldn't speak French but had the foresight (or was it the governments' insistence) to send all 5 of us to French school -needless to say, I was a tortured bloke. I moved to Minnesota with my son who is now 17 in 2003 after marrying the man I truly (and literally), nearly fell down for.
02. What first made you want to become an artist?
I've always been an artist in some form or another whether it was drawing, writing, sewing... I really used to think that it was all just girls stuff but began to notice that a good number of my friends were just not that into it. It's all but second nature I think.
03. Tell us a bit about how you first discovered photography.
When I was 10, I received a old Brownie Camera for Christmas and that was it. I was hooked. Trouble was, my allowance of a whole 25 cents per week wasn't enough to buy and develop film or pay for the flash bulbs. Desperate times called for desperate measures and so I got a job delivering a weekly suburban newspaper which lasted a couple of years. I had to quit it when I went into deficit on what I owed the paper each month from my collection and tips. It was not a pretty day. By high school there was the darkroom and creative teachers and photography competitions, yearbook photography committee and class excursions. Life was good again until.... film and developing became a huge expense again and I had to put my Nikon FE 2 down until I could find a half decent job. Within a few years I was back into the scene with my new Nikon F60 and now, in this digital age, a D50.
04. Where do you draw your inspiration & motivation from?
I am a self-professed Photoshop junkie and love to create dreamlike images using textures and layers and when that happens, it's spontaneous. Nothing is thought out at all --the image just begins to take shape effortlessly. Every so often however, I will take a photograph that I just can't do a thing with because it is in my eyes quite simply and purely, beautiful.
05. Apart from creating things, what do you do?Unable to sustain a viable living through photography sales, I work full time for a large Photography company as an admin. While it's a corporate environment, there are so many incredibly creative and talented people around me every day. I could do with less paperwork and scheduling but, it could be worse.
Another hobby / talent is cooking and I do mean from scratch! If there's a crowd, all the better but 3 does me fine. When I moved here I opened up a brick and mortar shop called Oregano believing that everyone loved the finer foods in life but, I was quite sadly mistaken. I have however taken those mistakes and tweaked them just enough to think about opening up another Etsy Shop which is called Kitchen Stories and offers (almost) ready to eat or bake delights.
06. What's your favourite item in your shop?
Into the Sun is by far my most favourite.
{All of the images that accompany this interview are a few of her other personal favourites}.
07. Can you name a few undiscovered artists that you'd recommend to the world?
Bomobob, Hew Design, Uncommondepth, BrookeBart, ELBFoto, and Keynoter.
08. What's something unique/interesting about you that you've always wanted to mention in an interview but never found a way to work it in?
I will always and forever be an artist and entrepreneur at heart. I may get discouraged along the way but I am quick to recover.
09. What's the best advice you have ever received?
Your thoughts and feelings create your life; it will always be that way.
2 comments:
Amazing work and love all these photos. The interview was great to read!
Fantastic! Love being introduced to new artists - and to hear more about their story.
More features, please! ;-)
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