Hi, I'm Holly!
As a young child I always had an infatuation with cameras and taking pictures. Growing up in a home surrounded by framed pieces of my grandfather's photos, I always dreamed about meeting my grandfather one day and asking him about his passion and how he became a professional photographer for the New York World-Telegram & Sun. Unfortunately I was never given this opportunity as he passed away about ten years before I was born. But one thing I admired about his work was his eye for detail and his ability to make anyone feel at ease in front of his camera. With my grandfather as inspiration, I decided to follow my dreams to be a photographer.
Click HERE to see Roger's art.
Since taking my first picture with my Fisher Price Camera at the age of three, I have been photographing ever since. At the age of thirty, I inherited an old Polaroid and it triggered a memory of when I was young. Aiming, clicking the button, removing the white glossy paper and then shaking the image with immense anticipation until the picture came through brought back such wonderful memories that I realized that day I found my true passion. I followed that passion and five years later my dream came true.
My Exploration Journey:
I began chasing my hobby as an urban explorer two decades ago, but one cold day in 2013 I decided to incorporate my love of exploration with my passion of photography. For the first time ever I brought my camera along with me into an abandoned psychiatric hospital. As I crawled into a dark, narrow hole in the ground and entered a basement full of cobwebs, debris, falling plaster and rotted wood, something wonderful transpired. In that moment, my collection Abandoned Beauties was born. Since 2017, Abandoned Beauties has been showcased all over the Long Island metro area for the past two years.
My Words:
“Photography is more than my passion and my hobby. It has gifted me the ability to be able to show others the beauty that resides within the walls of places that have been forgotten. It is in the darkness, decay and abandonment of these places that I’m able to let go of my fears, face my demons and tell my own personal story. Oddly, it is also where I feel the most alive. I don’t feel any sense of danger when I explore these sacred spaces, but more a sense of feeling at home.”