Artist Statement:
From childhood Angela has had a passion for photography and photojournalism. Inspired by photojournalists such as Dorothea Lange and Lewis Hine, Angela keeps her camera with her everywhere she goes. “You never know when the moment will present itself to capture an image to share with others. It is just so exciting to watch storms, such beauty and power right above our heads. How could I ever stop taking photographs of it?”
Upcoming projects include “Last of the Mountain People” – a black and white photographic exploration of the ‘old timers’ who live in the mountains of Kentucky, a color photography “Bugs & Animals” project, as well as seeking out new subjects to photograph.
“God is all around us, we just need to stop and look”.
Angela studied photography at Nashville State Community College and is wanting to earning a Business Management degree.
INTERVIEWED:
SEPT 2010
STOPLIGHT: Photography By Angela Kay Hamm
Written by
Jason Zasky
Solveras merchant support associate Angela Kay Hamm loves to take pictures, so when a neighbor's son found a black widow spider under her porch, her first reaction wasn't to recoil in horror, but to grab her camera. "He didn't realize what he had picked up--until he brought it in the house [and I advised him]," recalls Hamm, who happened to be in the midst of producing a series of National Geographic-style close-ups of Wolf spiders and black widows, both of which inhabit her Hickman County property.
Yet it's an earlier, loftier series of photographs that is currently drawing attention to her work. On Friday, September 10 2010 , a selection of 13 prints from her Storm and Sky series went on display at the upstairs gallery of the Renaissance Center in Dickson, which is currently holding its 12th Annual Regional Art Exhibition. Hamm hopes the exhibit will generate the kind of exposure that will lead to a book deal. "I've been looking for an agent who can submit my photos to publishing companies," she says matter-of-factly.
"The Storm and Sky series is the first photography project I ever put my energy into," she begins, "and it has already paid off in a surprising way."
Meanwhile, Hamm continues to work towards getting her "dream project" underway, which would involve venturing into the mountains of Kentucky with her Olympus E-420 to take a series of black-and-white photos of the old-timers who inhabit Hyden, the county seat of Leslie County, located in the Eastern Coal Field region of the state. "It would be a great challenge for me to see if I can capture them," she says, noting that the people who live there maintain a lifestyle that has more in common with the 1930s and '40s than twenty-first century America.
With that in mind, it's no surprise that Hamm--who studied photography at Nashville State Community College--counts photojournalist Dorthea Lange (1895-1965) and sociologist/photographer Lewis Hine (1874-1940) as creative influences. Lange is best-known for photos that humanized the consequences of the Great Depression, while Hine used his camera as a tool for social reform, especially in regard to child labor laws.
Hamm says she considers it fortuitous that she's currently enrolled in a marketing and e-commerce class at Columbia State Community College, where she's working towards a business management degree. After all, the knowledge she has acquired in class has helped her bring her work online ( angelakay.zenfolio.com ), and also encouraged her to pursue the possibility of publishing a book. The classes complement her experience at Solveras, where she has been employed for the past five-and-a-half years, handling training and installation for all virtual terminals. "From what I am told, I am responsible for 40-60 percent of all business installations," she says.
To be sure, Hamm is more optimistic than ever about her future in photography, looking forward to the day when she can buy her ideal camera--a Canon Mark III. " I just love catching images and hearing the different things people see."
