Victoria Bennett Beyer
I've always considered myself artistic, but it took me years to realize I wanted to focus on photography. Looking back, it seems obvious. My parents gave me my first camera when I was in elementary school, and my first memories of really being interested in photography come from a trip across the country that we took when I was ten. I have an entire album of blurry shots of the Grand Canyon and of the buffalo in Yellowstone National Park. From then on, I took photos of everything. In high school, I was on the yearbook staff, and much to the chagrin of my schoolmates, I was constantly snapping photos of them. I'm sure they thank me when they flip through those books and see all that bad hair. A big turning point also came in high school, when a boyfriend gave me an Olympus OM-1 that his father was going to throw away. It was my first SLR and I still use it today. It opened up a whole new world of control and dimension that blew my mind.
I continued to pursue journalism in college, only two hours from my Moncks Corner home, at the University of South Carolina. I got lots of practice as a reporter and copy editor, but there were fewer opportunities for the more artistic side - photography and graphic design. Though, I must credit U.S.C. with creating a very balanced program in spite of what I just said. I took every grap
hic design course the journalism school offered, and took a single course in photography from the art school. I tried and tried to get into the second photography course but there was not another opening the entire time I was there. But I didn't let that discourage me, and I kept photographing everything around me, out of need really. I honestly couldn't stop. That is, until I graduated, married, and took a job as a graphic designer and photo tech at The Daily News in Jacksonville, N.C. I confess the daily grind took its toll on me and I got out of the habit, which was a shame considering what a beautiful place coastal North Carolina is. I did grow artistically there, however, learning the art of graphic design from the good folks at The Daily News. Before long I was designing feature section fronts, which was a lot of fun.
My husband finished his four years in the Marine Corps and took a job in Pittsburgh, P.A. It was the biggest city I ha
ve ever lived in, and it fascinated me and scared me at the same time. After taking a few months to get acquainted with the area, we bought our first house and set about remodeling it. I spent a year at home stripping and sanding woodwork and painting ceilings and walls, among other home improvement projects. I concentrated my photographic efforts on macrobiotic photography, enjoying the gardens of my neighbors and all the work I put into my own. I was eager to get back to graphic design and took a job at The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Though it took a while to adjust to working at such a large paper, I had found an outlet for my artistic needs that challenged me every day. I was very sorry to have to leave when my husband took a job in Wyoming.
In 2006, we moved to the small town of Guernsey, W.Y., population 1,174. I confess it was a big shock, but the
opposite of how I felt when I moved to Pittsburgh. Here, I walk everywhere I need to go, and when I go to the bar I don't even have to order 'the usual;' they just serve it to me. I do like the slower pace of life and that so many stresses, like traffic and pollution, are nonexistent here.
With no nearby job equivalent of what I had left in Pittsburgh, I have refocused on the things I always wished I had more time for, primarily photography. I'm currently working on a collection of images from where I live - in Guernsey - that capture the sense of place of this small town.