Traditional photography celebrated at NH art exhibit

on Tuesday,February 22,2011 20:02

A photography exhibit in Manchester, New Hampshire, will be open until March 6. All of the photos were taken by artists Margaret Merritt and Susan Lirakis, according to The Citizen of Laconia.

Among other things, Lirakis touched on what photography meant to her and how important it was to her in her childhood.

"I think it was one of those happy accidents where someone handed me a camera and a I took to it," she told the news source. "Since I didn't talk a lot when I was little, it was a fun way to express myself."

She continues to use a traditional camera today, because she says that she believes real film has more depth than the pixels found in digital photos. One recent graduate of a fine arts program, Takuya Yoshida, called the pictures "spiritual."

Merritt, a former teacher at Wellesley College, discovered her passion after taking a class in Japan hand papermaking. Now, she does prints of her nature photographs.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics states that there were 152,000 professional photographers in 2008. More than half were self-employed. There are many specialty positions in the field as well.