When I first started taking photographs I felt like I was gifted a second childhood, full of all its curiosity and wonder. I began with night photography because I was still working and the only time I had the chance to take photos was when I went with my husband, a professional photographer, on one of his night shoots. One evening he handed me his old Nikon D70 and told me to go figure it out. I was fascinated with working at night when light is low and can be added in different ways and with the way colors can be brought out of the dark so vibrantly. But because I love taking photos, I also started taking pictures during the day using a variety of subjects. I took my camera with me if we travelled, I took photos through the car window on our many drives between Athens, GA and Sapelo Island, GA. My camera goes with me when I walk and ride my bike on the beach and always if I am in one of my favorite places, a mountain creek. It is possible to see de-light even in one’s own backyard or house. I take pictures where I happen to be and of what captures my eye and my heart. When I go without expectations, I am often surprised!
After I retired and my husband and I moved to Sapelo Island, my photography grew in importance to me. Especially since the Covid pandemic I mostly have taken pictures on the island. Going out with my camera has been a means of turning the yearning of loneliness into the peace of solitude. However, this group of photos was taken in mountain creeks. They represent a way of turning the cares and worries of my life into the innocence and playfulness of a carefree childhood. I played in creeks my whole life and I never stopped delighting in it even as an adult. Each fall my mind goes to the mountains and if I get the chance I travel to north Georgia or North Carolina looking for a creek. There I become a child again but instead for looking for crawdads or rocks or building dams and wandering over rocks and little waterfalls, I take photos. What I saw once I looked with my camera just amazed me. The colors, the patterns in the running water, how a leaf and the sky, the trees, and all of the surroundings can be reflected and connected through Light in the ever-running water is nothing short of magic. I chose this set of photos rather than some other different subjects because I feel the colors and patterns are cheery and provide an antidote to current events in the news. My daughter died last year of brain cancer and I have not taken photos for some time, only recently starting again. My life changed and has a sadness running through it. The creek reminds me that there is a life force that carries us and comforts and once in a while bring joy. I hope the photos bring some delight and joy to the viewer and for a moment let them forget their cares.
BIO:
Ginger Goekjian was born in Columbia, South Carolina in 1954. She and her family moved to Athens, Georgia when she was eight years old. She attended the University of Georgia where she completed her Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in biochemistry. Ms. Goekjian then worked for over thirty years in research in the Plant Biology Department and at the Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study. She also worked for one year in Naples, Italy and ten weeks on a project at Kruger National Park in South Africa. She and her husband, Karekin, have one son and two grandsons. Ginger and Karekin have lived on Sapelo Island, Georgia since 2014.
Ginger took her first photograph at the age of 55 one night in January 2009 at Providence Canyon, Georgia at the urging of her husband photographer Karekin. A whole new world opened to her. She began with taking pictures at night using, as light sources, flashlights for interiors and flashlights and the full moon for exteriors. She picked up tips on how to do night work from Karekin but when he gave her his old Nikon D70 he told her to “go figure it out”. Ginger fell in love with taking pictures and started taking pictures during the day as well, always drawn by curiosity and awe of how light transforms the ordinary into the extraordinary. It has become a means of connection for her and of being present in the moment.
Ginger Goekjian
706-540-9865
PO Box 95
Sapelo Island, GA 31327
