(The following is an article written for the Crescent City Chronicle, Fall 2015)

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty.  That is all ye know on earth, and all ye need to know".  John Keats

When asked, "What is the essence of art, specifically photography?"  Marcy Miller responded with a quick nod of her head.  Her eyes

sparkled.  Her answer was immediate, and carried the weight of conviction.

          "Light."  "Yes, light is everything!"

"What do you mean, everything?" I asked.

          "Everything has an essence---a reality.  The artist captures this essence and displays it in sharp focus.  What the eye sees is

reflected light - shape, shadow, nuance, color.  Light is only realized in the reflected, but, recognized or not, without it, everything

dies.  With light, there is a pulse, there is life.  As a photographer I capture light and reveal this...the  essence."

"Please, how did you become interested in photography?" I asked.

          "I don't want to bore you.  My story is not so very special.  I was born and raised on a farm in the rural prairie of southwest

Louisiana, Church Point to be exact.  It was there as a child that I first developed an appreciation of beauty.  And like a mimic, I

wanted to create.  It was a time when children played outdoors.  I remember the cotton fields...green expanse punctuated with

white.  Skies pure blue with clouds so white like cotton, and how colors changed as the winds moved the clouds majestically

along - there shadows covering the fields.  I remember the refreshing silver sheen's of afternoon rains that filled the ditches,

and turned the glaring, fine white powdered chalk of dust into black rich mud, and the fine distinction and variety of color that

surrounded me and my cousins, my playmates.  The minnows and small catfish and the crawfish caught from the pond where the

cattle quenched their thirst, the rows of early summer blackberries, and the deep purple black stains they left on our hands and 

mouths and souls, these are my first impressions.  After I finished high school, I still wanted to be surrounded by beauty.  

I needed a job.  For me, as an 18 year old girl impressed with pretty clothes and jewelry and glamour, I turned to retail.  I went to

work for Gouchaux/Maison Blanche, followed by Parisians, followed by Foley's, followed by Macy's.  In a career that has spawned

thirty one years.  I have met and developed some very close friendships with some really amazing, creative, loving people.  It was

they who first encouraged me to study photography.  I was always amazed by the creativity of our stores visual teams, their

beautiful and amazing displays.  It took a few years, but then I began to study photography seriously.

Through correspondence, I enrolled in the New York Institute of Photography and received my degree.  I've used my vacation time

going on workshops and improving my art.  I've always been athletic, and have been playing volleyball for a long time.  It was on the

sand courts that I first recognized the beautiful symmetry and luminescence of the human skin.  Mango's, that where I play volleyball,

is Baton Rouge's hidden treasure."

"Thank you for your candor, just one more question.  How do you feel about your new career and whats in your future? "  

Marcy's answer surprised me "Im happy!  Ecstatic really!  I'm following my dream, my passion.  Im discovering new and novel

techniques every day.  With color, composition, and all the wonderful light, I capture the truth, the essence of my subject.  

My pictures tell a story, a story I'm willing to share.  Here, let me take your picture.  I'll show you."  She smiled.

          Who could resist.  After the shutter clicked, as we waited for the portrait to print, she answered the last part of my question.  

"As for the future, who knows?  Thats not important.  What is important is now."  She handed me my print.

Flattered, I paid her knowing that my life was enriched for having met her.

Louisiana has a new small business owner, Marcy Miller, commercial photographer.  I hope she doesn't  outgrow us, but I predict she will.

               J.S. is a staff writer for Signature Publishing Company