Natalie spoke about her experiences as a photographer and an artist.  She also shared some memorable stories from her past that came to life as she showed the audience the pictures she took during those times.  Her photographs of bears, salmon, eagles, and people in all types of extreme conditions were amazing.  I felt that she made a good point about cameras being “passports to experience” because she traveled to all types of remote locations and met a great deal of people.

She mentioned that she likes to show personality in her pictures and they absolutely capture a breadth of emotions: from complete misery to overwhelming joy.  The Exxon-Valdez oil spill was definitely a sad event and her photographs were able to capture the horror and despair of both the animals and the people cleaning up the spill.  She also spoke about her salmon project, how she persevered, “believed in herself” and “believed in her projects.”  This gives an artist like me hope, because I certainly believe in myself and my projects.