Meet Emma Buck, the adventurous 18 year old photographer and artist from Metro Detroit Michigan.
Is there a story about how you became involved in these fields?
My grandfather would tell me stories about his time living in Japan and his time traveling while being a photographer which really started my love for photography. As I got older I noticed I had amounts of memory loss and knowing that I could take pictures to savor memories always helped me.
Talk to us about your favorite project you have completed. Do you have a favorite photoset?
This ones actually a fun story, so I have a friend who lives around ten miles away and being a high school student with a job it’s hard to just go visit her, so one night me and one of my other friends went to go hang out with her. We decided to explore and we broke into an abandoned farmhouse, which ended up being an abandoned DIY show house. It was full of art and stuff so I, of course, took tons of pictures on my film camera. We ended up trying to take a couple of the pieces of art and a cop pulled up. We got put into a cop car and were questioned, like why are we here, what are we doing, etc. Thankfully we didn't get in any trouble, but it is really scary being in the back of a cop car knowing that there’s a chance you might get arrested.
Anyway, about a month later I got the film back and got to relive the artwork in the house and relive the night up until the cop found us.
"I love being able to capture memories and pieces of time so I love to just live in the moment and take pictures of things that catch my eye. I also enjoy film photography because it’s another fun way to capture memories, forget about those small memories, then you get your film back and you can relive those forgotten memories."
What role do you believe artists play in society?
I think that everyone is an artist, no matter what they do, they all have their own thoughts and ideas, and even though you don’t really think about it, everyone’s lives are influenced by and are able to influence art.
More of Emma's Digital Art:
How has social distancing aided or hindered your artwork?
I think that being stuck inside has really pushed me away from photography since my normal daily life really influences my work, especially my friends, and not being able to see my friends really stops me from having something to take photos of. Eventually, I dragged myself out of the house and went to some friend’s houses to take pictures of them from their windows. I also managed to buy myself an iPad Pro, which gave me a new place to work and make art.
A world without art, what world would it be?
I’ve always loved the saying, earth without art is just eh, because art truly is everywhere. it's on cereal boxes, and billboards, and even on something like toilet paper packaging. Even if it doesn’t look like much, logos and advertisements are a big part of art on earth.
If you had to give a piece of advice to someone entering these fields, what would give to them?
I’m a really stubborn person and I’ve always hated getting advice for my artwork, but I think it’s important to be able to discuss art with others in a positive way and be able to take advice even though I never like getting advice.
Check out more of Emmas work at her instagram HERE
Story by: Alyssa Olvera
