Elle Pollard Photography: First Friday Photo Friends

I am not only the sum of my work but the sum of those around me. With this thought, a new project starts this year. I will be featuring a photo friend on the first Friday of the month. These are the people who have touched my life and my work in some way. Collectively they have helped shape me into the person and photographer I am today. I’ll share a bit about them and their work with you. I want to encourage you to check out their work and show some love on their social media with likes, shares and comments. It's a tough world out there, let’s make it a little friendlier.

I thought Dwayne Reaves would be the perfect person for my first feature since he has been around since the early months of my trek into social media. I quickly found it was harder than I expected to make meaningful connection in the cyber world. Dwayne was not like every other photographer. He has a genuine interest in the photographer and their work. Through the past few years he would always send a note to check up on me if I had been hibernating from my social media. Several times it was the motivation I needed to get going again.

Dwayne’s passion for photography is unwavering. I have watched as life has hurled complications his way. He does not use them as an excuse to why he can’t. No, this man will find solutions and why he will. Last year we chatted about his equipment breaking. This would discourage so many. Dwyane kept shooting with the gear he had. Proving it is not the camera that makes beautiful images it’s the photographer. He would tell you, “you don't have to have an expensive camera to make a difference with photos … so many people think it is the camera when it is the person behind the camera and their attitude toward life.” Dwayne’s images are largely made within ten miles of his home in North Carolina. “Most people think you have to travel to far away places to take beautiful photographs, that is not true. There is beauty all around us.” His positive can-do outlook on life and his photography truly inspires me.

This is one of my favorite pieces of his work. He loves to photograph old homes and landscapes. If you watch his feeds you will see images of his beautiful daughter, a cherished rock in his life.