Mester’s photography exhibit, “The Nature of Virginia: Images of Loudoun,” displays photographs representing 10 years of local history in Leesburg and its surrounding areas. The images, which depict landscapes and events, are on display in the Leesburg Town Hall until April 30. How did you learn the art of photography? From my father. He had a darkroom, and … I just enjoyed the whole experience of making pictures. So now that the photo world has gone digital, do you miss film? There’s really not much of a difference. Film limited you because you could only shoot a roll of 12 or 24. The downside with digital is you can shoot 1,000 pictures — and you have to go through it. … You can sort of overlook composition because you have a tendency to assume the camera’s making the right adjustments because we have automatic settings. … The downside is we just don’t slow down and think of the image that we’re taking.
Tell us what’s so special about Leesburg. To me it’s very fragile and it can be lost. Like any other activity there’s a few people that put an extraordinary effort into making a garden show, fireworks show, a parade and it brings the community together. … And sometimes people move on or have a different life and different people come on and it’s just not the same anymore.
Any tips for budding photographers? First rule of thumb is take the picture. Also butterflies don’t pose for you, or people walk in the way or the light changes. Take another look at the scene and move around and recompose the shot. … A big one people do is, when they’re shooting kids, they’re standing over them and pointing down. You should kneel down — that way you can get the child’s eyes and smile right at camera level. – Liz Farmer
