A new photography exhibit called “Travels Near and Far” will challenge visitors to take another look at the world around them.
After winning the Tuscaloosa Arts Council’s Double Exposure Photo Exhibition a year and a half ago, Mary Meares, who teaches intercultural communication at The University of Alabama, will display her work at the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center next month in “Travels Near and Far.” The exhibit will feature photographs that Meares took in Tuscaloosa and abroad in Japan, Spain and other countries. Meares discusses her photos, her exhibit and the beauty in daily life.
Q: How did you get involved in photography?
A: I’ve always taken a lot of photos when I travel. I grew up in a house with a lot of cameras around. So I was always aware of photography, but Jan. 1, 2013, I thought I’d do a photo-a-day experiment. At first it was just random things, but then I decided what I really wanted to do is look for beauty in daily life, and so that’s where the flowers and the leaves and those kinds of things come from. So it became kind of this whole practice of just being aware. Instead of just walking from the parking lot to my office, I notice the things that are blooming. I notice things I wouldn’t have before. And I haven’t done it every single day but almost every day. It’s given me a chance to develop my eye.
Q: Can you tell us a little bit more about your exhibit?
A: I was struggling with what to focus on because I do have lots of flower photography, and I’ve got a lot of travel photography so I decided to focus on that. The title is “Travels Near and Far,” and so it’s some things that are close by, especially some of the flower photography, that were taken here in Tuscaloosa. I’ve always been interested in learning about different places and different cultures, and so that’s where the travel aspect of this comes in. I don’t journal very well when I travel, but I take lots of photographs so I can go back and think about my experience, and it’s like reliving that. So this is a way to share with other people both some of the beautiful things I’ve seen in Tuscaloosa and some of the things that I’ve seen other places as well.
Q: What are you looking forward to about showing your photography?
A: It’s a new thing for me, so it’s kind of pushing my boundaries a little bit in a good way. It’s fun to think about how I’m going to fill up this space. But I do have a big backlog of photos that I like and I’m proud of, so I think it will be fun and exciting to see everything up on the wall. Hopefully this will be the first of many opportunities to share my work with other people.
Q: What was the most difficult part about putting together the exhibit?
A: I think picking the photos out because I do have so many. Picking the theme and how to organize them and arrange them. I actually have a student, she’s graduating this semester from the art department, who’s a friend and she’s helping me a little bit with picking things out, so that’s nice because I don’t have any real formal training in all of this. I took a couple of classes on photography when I was an undergrad and in my twenties, and that’s kind of the extent of my formal training in photography. It’s mostly been trial and error and seeing what works and learning and really developing my eye. That’s what the daily practice does.
Q: How do you decide which photos to put on your website?
A: On my website, I’ve got a challenge: pick out one thing – it could be a plant, an object, a person and everyday for a month, take a different photo of that. It can be with a cell phone. It doesn’t have to be with a fancy camera. When I started the photo a day project my DSLR needed work, and so I started out with just a point and shoot camera, and there are people who do this with their cell phones. It’s much less about the technology and what you’re using to shoot with than it is about practice and looking and learning to see things.
Q: What are your hopes for the exhibit?
A: I hope it encourages other people to go out and look at the world around them. It’s hard in January and February when things are a little bit gray, but even there it’s interesting to see what you can observe, even if it’s a dead leaf that has symmetry and how it looks. Sometimes we just walk by things and don’t pay attention to them. A number of years ago, when I was working at a different university, I was walking to the parking lot one afternoon, and when I looked up, there was this gorgeous sunset and I almost missed it because I was thinking about the day and what I needed to do when I got home and what I needed to buy at the grocery store. I think my biggest message is to pay attention to the world around us.
“Travels Near and Far” will be on display Sept. 2 – 30 at the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center on Greensboro Avenue.
