Orlando Museum of Art

Back when I lived in Huntsville I would pass the art museum all the time, but never went in to see any of the exhibits.  In hindsight I was totally slacking because admission was heavily discounted for students.  So when I moved to Orlando, I didn't want to make the same mistake and added visiting the Orlando Museum of Art to my 30 Before 30 list.

National Geographic Women of Vision: Maggie Steber, Kitra Cahana, Amy Toensing, Carolyn Drake, Diane Cook, Lynn Johnson, Beverly Joubert, Jodi Cobb, Stephanie Sinclair, Erika Larsen and Lynsey Addario

A couple weeks ago I finally went!  There was an exhibit called 'Women of Vision' displaying work of various female National Geographic photographers.  It was amazing!  I found myself walking from photo to photo imagining what it was like to capture.

Lynn Johnson "In the Footsteps of the Apostles" March 2012 Odisha, India

Maggie Steber "The Secrets of Sleep" May 2010 Miami, Florida

When I was in college, I majored in photojournalism, but as I went through the classes, I started feeling like it was only news reporting style photography.  So I drifted away from it and towards the more artistic studio photography.  Walking through the exhibit really reawakened my interest in photojournalism. 

Stephanie Sinclair "Too Young to Wed" Haijah, Yemen

The photos were more storytelling and anthropological in style.  It was awesome for me and I kept saying to myself, "This! This is what I wanted to do!"  It was great to find that connection.  I want to take that inspiration and use it towards the photo stories that I want to shoot more of.  I just have to find the stories to tell.

Beverly Joubert "Lessons of the Hunt" 2007 Botswana

In addition to the Women of Vision exhibit, I also visited the African art collection which was very inspirational color and design wise.  I think my favorite pieces were the love note necklaces.  I think it would be awesome to design something using the colors/meaning for Lamar.  Hmm... anniversary/birthday gift maybe?? I think I'll start planning! ^.^

Zulu & Xhosa Love Note Necklaces - Art that Speaks Exhibition

 The last section I visited was the contemporary art.  My art lovin' heart jumped out of my chest and danced around the room and then my body followed!  I'm so glad I was alone in the exhibit.  I'm pretty sure I twirled! lol! I loved the colors and there was so much energy in the pieces.  Everything was gorgeous eye-candy.  The photo below is of one piece that drew me in straightaway.  The motion in it was... mesmerizing. Unfortunately, in all my awe, I forgot to make a note of the artist.

Contemporary art pieces at Orlando Museum of Art

Contemporary art pieces at Orlando Museum of Art

After I'd been there for a couple hours, my friend Cherie came by and we went back through Women of Vision.  On my second go through, I felt like an excited butterfly zipping all around ^.^  The last thing we did was stop in the gift shop and snap a couple pictures of the statue installation outside.

Horizons Sculpture by Steinunn Thórarinsdóttir

It was an awesome trip and definitely something I'm going to do again.  One more thing to check off my list! Woot Woot!!  I'm hoping to be half way through the 30 Before 30 list by my birthday.  So that leaves me 4 days to finish 3 more items o.O  EEP!