corquey's photostream  

Greetings and salutations! : )

What is there to say??? I was raised in the tiny little farming community of Eagle, Idaho, just outside the Boise city limits. I never really knew anything about anything outside of that sheltered little life. By 'little', I do not mean any disrespect toward my parents who always worked very hard to keep food on the table. I just never knew anything beyond that world or the world of the religion in which I was raised (being mormon).

I served a mormon mission (yes I was one of those world renowned missionaries) for two years in la Mission Suisse de Geneve from July '91-June'93 which served to open my eyes to new perspectives, having had the opportunity to live in Geneva, Vevey, Montreux, Lausanne, Sion, Fribourg, and Neuchatel Switzerland, as well as the french cities of St Etienne and Dijon. I still consider myself culturally mormon, but released any attachment I may have had with religion in general. I was taught as a kid, to ask the questions, 'where did I come from before I was born?','why am I here?','and where will i go when i die?'. I came to the monumental conclusion that I really don't care! I just want to live a quality life and perhaps help others along the way. Is it such a bad thing?

I had the opportunity to return to France in 2004-05 as an English assistant in the French public school system With my hubby Zach. I taught in the towns of Meylan and Corenc outside of Grenoble whilst living across the Isere from the porte de France in Grenoble. I've never been one for taking pictures really and refused to take many when living in Grenoble because I didn't want to come off as a tourist. But, that being said, something did click in me during my sejour that made me obsess about capturing every moment and sharing it with my family and friends back home.

Whilst in France, I decided to finish my undergrad (finally) and Zach wanted to return for his master's in public policy administration. Upon returning to the U.S. we stationed ourselves in the, ever so lovely, Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts. It was at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst I was finally able to complete my degree in Resource Economics in May of '09. Western MA has proven to be quite an eye opener as well for a kid from the sparkling new state of ID. In the whole of the state I think the oldest non-native structure standing is the Sacred Heart Mission dating to the mid 19th century. The graveyard in Northampton, MA, where I now live, has stones dating to 1680 and houses dating from 1700. Needless to say, it is very different here.

Now we're getting to the purpose of my flickr obsession. My pictures aren't terribly interesting. I do try to take an artistic approach in much of what i do but rejoice in the simple and the ordinary. I do it for myself mainly, to catalog the things that I appreciate for being different than the things I know. Secondly, I do it for my family and friends back home, so they can see the things that I see and perhaps share in my intrigue of things different than those they know. Thirdly, if anyone else should find themselves curious about a total stranger who catalogs almost everything he sees (no matter how tedious it might seem to the general populace), they are welcome into my world. I enjoy scouring people's photostreams and taking in as much as I can from other regions of the world. Through discovering other people's worlds and perspectives I've found something I desperately want to integrate into my own photography, soul.

My technique and style are definitely a work in progress. I thank everyone who inspires me to push myself a step further and truly try to find the new perspective and art in real life.