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Innerview: Elizabeth Lemon, Photographer.

The Dotmatrix Project has hung an assortment of photographs at the Green Bean this month.  The Grand Opening is this Friday, September 4th, at 8pm.  There will be photographs to admire/purchase, videos to watch, and live music from Larelyn Dossett, Mr. Rozzi, and Eating the Invaders.  Elizabeth Lemon is one of the photographers.  This is an interview from July.  The photographs here were taken on the Fuji Finepix camera that Lemon gave to me.

I was still taking the trash out after a busy shift at the coffee shop when Elizabeth Lemon walked in.  She was five minutes early to meet me for an interview.  Once my work was done, I went to the table where she sat sipping a smoothie.  I asked her if she wouldn’t mind walking to the pizza place to grab a slice, as I was very hungry.  She had no problem with that, so we walked through downtown Greensboro with our sunglasses on, and I switched on the digital recorder…

Monkeywhale:  Elizabeth Lemon.  Why photography?  What brought you to photography?

Elizabeth Lemon:  Wow.  That could be a long story.  Or a short one, depending.  (laughs)  I’ve always been around it.  My dad was a photographer, and his dad, and his dad, so it kinda runs in the family.  I’ve always been interested in it.  I picked out my first camera when I was twelve, and I’ve loved it ever since.  I took a couple of classes in college, in Colorado, and I just fell in love with film and photography.  I took a break from it for a while, then decided to get back into it and be serious about it – I love it.

MW: You are serious about it, you take great pictures.

EL:  Well, thanks.  I’m getting there.

MW:  You mentioned Colorado- are you from there, originally?

EL:  I am.  I’m from Colorado Springs.  I lived in New Mexico for a couple of years, and then moved out to North Carolina.

MW: What brought you here?

EL:  School.  Randolph Community College (RCC) in Asheboro, of all places.  They have an excellent photography program, top in the country.  I heard about it way out there in New Mexico, came to check it out and it had everything that a lot of the real expensive private colleges had to offer, but at a much more reasonable price.  I loved it out here, so I thought- why not?  Might as well see what happens.  I just finished my internships, and I graduate August 1st.  After that- who knows?

MW:  You are a photographer for the Dotmatrix Project here in Greensboro.  How did that come about?

EL:  Danny Bayer, who graduated from RCC’s photography department the year before, sent an email to one of my teachers.  The teacher sent out a mass email to the whole class about the Dotmatrix Project, and that they were looking for photographers.  It sounded like a really fun thing, I had no idea what it was- who any of these people were- but I thought it would be good to meet some other photographers in the area, and get to know them.  I’ve always loved music, and I love photographing live music- so it was a perfect fit…

MW:  You guys are having a Dotmatrix Photograph Exhibit soon, right?

EL: Yes, we are.  September four is the opening of the Exhibit, at the Green Bean.  We had one in December at Tai Pan, and it was a lot of fun.  I think we had a pretty good response- there were a lot of people at the opening.  It was pretty low budget.  We didn’t have any frames, we hung the photographs on clothes pins- but it looked really good.  We are going to keep having these Exhibits every so often.  That was one of the reasons I joined the Dotmatrix Project.  It’s great exposure into the community, you get your name out there, people can see your work who normally wouldn’t.  So, the next Exhibit is in September, and we are going to do it really nice this time.  Everything will be framed and matted, for sale, if you want a picture of Matty Sheets on your wall…(laughs)

MW:  Awkward.

EL:  …There are ten or eleven photographers involved.  It’s going to be a lot of fun.  It’s going to be a good show.

We now walked into the pizza place, ordered and sat at a booth.  Lemon tells me about Greensboro’s community…

EL:  School was pretty intense, and I lived in Asheboro, so I didn’t come to Greensboro much at all- but this kinda got me out.  I was shocked at all the photographers and film makers that I met through working on the Dotmatrix Project.  I had no idea that that kind of community was up here.  On the surface, if you just drive through Greensboro, it seems like a normal city, you don’t think there’s going to be this great artistic component to it.  I just started hanging out with more people, meeting more people, now I come up here all the time, I want to move up here, I don’t want to lose those connections.

MW:  So, you are planning on staying?

EL:  Yeah, yeah.  I didn’t think that at all when I first moved here, I was ready to go right back home after I graduated, but…

At this point, our waiter brought my pizza slices.  I offered her some, she said “no, thanks”.  We continue…

EL: It’s weird- North Carolina as a whole state just grew on me.  I love the geographic diversity, mountains, ocean, I had no idea when I first moved here- no idea what was out here.  And everybody’s so nice, and Greensboro started to grow on me, and I just feel like I need to stay here for a while.  It’s welcoming here- I was kinda worried, in the photography world there can be a lot of competition, but here everyone has been very helpful, we all kind of work together.  I’m not a competitive person, I’m too sensitive. (laughs)  I just want everybody to get along. (laughs)  I don’t know… I just feel like I fit here.  I love how everyone is really connected, I love the community here.  I hope it can continue to grow.

MW:  What are your plans?

EL:  First of all, just find a job to pay the bills.  It doesn’t have to have to do with photography, I will always do that on the side.  I love fine art photography, I have my own dark room, and I really want to start focusing on that.  Getting into galleries, things like that.  I have ideas for a couple of documentaries that I want to start researching and working on.

MW:  Can you elaborate on fine art photography?

EL:  I’ll try to.  I really like to work with film, and alternative processes, which -these days- aren’t practical, because everything’s digital.  Film is a form of artwork, like painting or drawing, just working with photographs manually, with chemicals and dyes and manipulating them manually, changing them and making them your own.

MW:  Since you like working with film so much, I’d like to know how you feel about the digital age of photography.  Now everyone has a digital camera, everyone has a camera on their phone, there are all these blurry photos on Facebook, blurry concert footage on YouTube, what do you think about all that?

EL:  A part of me doesn’t mind that it’s become so accessible to everyone, because there will always be a need for professional photographers.  The photographic world is in such transition, it’s getting harder for people who have studied and can take really good photographs to get jobs because they naturally should charge more, but they’re not getting the jobs because somebody’s cousin has a digital camera and they can do it for a lot less – it may take a crappier picture, but it isn’t bad.  I hope that this passes, once the novelty wears off, and people will start wanting real quality pictures again.  Maybe that’s just a theory, maybe I’m just being idealistic, I don’t know. (laughs)  I love digital, I don’t think it’s a bad thing, just that there’s less of an appreciation for the photography, and that’s too bad.

MW:  Do you have any advice for someone who may be thinking about becoming a photographer, or becoming a visual artist in general, in this… day and age?

EL:  Be prepared for a lot of hard work.  It’s not easy to make it now, I mean it never has been, but now there’s so much out there.  Make sure you are doing something you are passionate about, or you won’t want to put so much work into it.  What is really important to me now is connecting, meeting as many people as you can in your field, anyone who is willing to help you, to critique you, to help you grow, to give you ideas.  I need that, you need that inspiration.  You can’t do it alone.  Don’t burn bridges, make good connections- even if it’s someone you don’t like- be polite, be nice.  If you wrong one person in this small world, everyone will hear about it.  You know, just get out there and do it, start practicing, start making stuff- even if it’s not great- just keep doing it, and look at other people’s work (I look at other photographs all the time), immerse yourself in it.  Get out there and get a cheap camera, or a cheap paintbrush and do it, start working at it and build, and be patient.  Don’t ever give up your passion, or one day you may be wondering what could have been, you know?  I don’t want to have that regret, I want to know.

END

You can see some of Elizabeth Lemon’s work, as part of the Dotmatrix Project’s Photograph Exhibit at the Green Bean this month.  The Grand Opening is this Friday, September fourth, 8pm.

Below is a link to Lemon’s Photo Blog.

Elizabeth Lemon Photography.

Innerview:  Donald Gaye, Music Man.

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