About AhernPhotography
Welcome to my page, I hope you find your time here enjoyable. My name is Lauren Ahern and I suppose I will tell you a little bit about myself and my photography. I grew up in Avon, Ct but have since relocated to Chicago, Illinois. I came to the city for college, deciding to escape the monotony of suburban living. I spent four years at Loyola University Chicago, pursuing my Bachelor's in International Relations. I still have the fantastical idea that one day I will snag a career working for National Geographic or a UN agency. Currently, I work as a Project Manager at a management company. It pays the bills, and I have gained a tremendous amount of business savvy, but I am intently looking for careers to unleash my creativity and personable nature. I have always loved travel and was lucky enough to be exposed to it at a young age because my mother was an airline employee. A lot of the photographs I will be showcasing are the direct products of my travels.
Funny enough, I didn't start enjoying photography until my Junior year in college. All of a sudden I found joy in capturing scenes from my journeys, whether it be a weekend stroll down a back ally in downtown Chicago, or a semester spent wandering around Rome & Beijing. I have never taken a photography class and I am not well versed in technique (although I am very interested in learning formal technique). I do not own a fancy camera- merely a bright pink Canon PowerShot. The job hasn't provided lucrative enough to dish out the money for an SLR yet. My style tends to be very detail oriented- a direct reflection off of my personality, and I tend to notice the small details that many people overlook. I believe that details are poignant and can be very powerful in conveying an emotion or statement if captured correctly.
Currently, I am sharing my photos from four months of academic study in China. My first page displays photographs taken during a two week stay in 6 different ethnic minority villages (The Bai, Dai, Yi, Naxi, Tibetan, and Hani people) in Yunnan Province, Southern China. The conditions were rugged, the toilets were non existent, but the scenery was unparalleled to anything I have seen before. These villages were undoubtedly rarities in themselves- pure and untouched by societal consumerism.
The second page display photographs from another trip I took to Sichuan Province. Sichuan province is home to the infamous Chengdu Panda Breeding and Research Center, and the Leshan Buddha (a GIGANTIC buddha carved out of a cliff).
The final page gives you a look at the modern art scene in China. What was once an old military weapon manufacturing compound is now "798"- an artists' compound and home to an array of art (sculpture, paintings, photographs) which range from eclectic to politically incorrect.
This is China through my lens....
Funny enough, I didn't start enjoying photography until my Junior year in college. All of a sudden I found joy in capturing scenes from my journeys, whether it be a weekend stroll down a back ally in downtown Chicago, or a semester spent wandering around Rome & Beijing. I have never taken a photography class and I am not well versed in technique (although I am very interested in learning formal technique). I do not own a fancy camera- merely a bright pink Canon PowerShot. The job hasn't provided lucrative enough to dish out the money for an SLR yet. My style tends to be very detail oriented- a direct reflection off of my personality, and I tend to notice the small details that many people overlook. I believe that details are poignant and can be very powerful in conveying an emotion or statement if captured correctly.
Currently, I am sharing my photos from four months of academic study in China. My first page displays photographs taken during a two week stay in 6 different ethnic minority villages (The Bai, Dai, Yi, Naxi, Tibetan, and Hani people) in Yunnan Province, Southern China. The conditions were rugged, the toilets were non existent, but the scenery was unparalleled to anything I have seen before. These villages were undoubtedly rarities in themselves- pure and untouched by societal consumerism.
The second page display photographs from another trip I took to Sichuan Province. Sichuan province is home to the infamous Chengdu Panda Breeding and Research Center, and the Leshan Buddha (a GIGANTIC buddha carved out of a cliff).
The final page gives you a look at the modern art scene in China. What was once an old military weapon manufacturing compound is now "798"- an artists' compound and home to an array of art (sculpture, paintings, photographs) which range from eclectic to politically incorrect.
This is China through my lens....