This week’s featured artist: Steve Ember, member since 2013:
ME: I’m originally from Baltimore, but I have spent most of my life in northern Virginia. I now live in West Springfield, VA.
While best known over the years either as an international broadcaster or as a music program host/producer at Washington, D.C.’s WETA, photography (which goes with my love of travel!), has always been there, right alongside the broadcast and voice-over work. I’m also a writer, and I often talk about my photographic adventures in my blog, “Thunderflakes.”
http://thunderflakes.blogspot.com
MY ART: It all started when my parents gave me a very basic little camera for my tenth birthday. By my late teens, I was getting more serious about photography, and with that came a succession of more advanced cameras. Back then, and for many years to come, the fruits of such serious shooting were enjoyed in a darkened room to the whir-kachunk of a Kodak Carousel slide projector.
I eventually transitioned to digital, getting my first serious D-SLR in 2008. I still shoot film as well as the digital – keeps me honest! It remains a connection to my photographic roots, when one simply had to learn all the steps…rather than let an automated camera make all the decisions for you. Not that one can’t be a “serious” photographer with digital, but those 36 frames in a film SLR do force one to be more deliberate. And, I have to say, there’s something comfort-food-y about using a fully manual film SLR like my Nikon FM.
My photography includes Alpine and other landscapes, cityscapes (including night scenes), railroad and aviation subjects, people, pets, the passing scene. Sometimes I indulge in flights of fancy by creating abstracts and other impressions from original images, such as my “Dreamscapes,” one of which appeared in the MD Art @ College Park exhibit. You can see a sampling of my work by clicking the Photography link on my website, SteveEmber.com.
MFA & ME: It’s been great renewing my association with MFA, and now that I have retired from the “day job,” I look forward to seeking out further opportunities for both shooting and exhibiting.
Spread the word about…YOU: Every week, we feature an MFA member for “Me & My Art Monday.” If you would like to be featured, please submit a photo and three paragraphs: one each about YOU, YOUR ART, and MFA & YOU totaling approximately 350 words, to meandmyart@mdfedart.org.
