Angela Ciccu

One of my sister's favourite quotes is "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss you'll land among the stars." And that is exactly where I want to be. My name is Angela Ciccu and I want to be the next Annie Leibovitz. I first saw an Annie Leibovitz exhibition at the Experience Music Project in Seattle when I was in high school. It was then that I realized I wanted to be a portrait photographer. I want to capture the spirit, the essence and the emotions of people in their surroundings. I have a passion for taking pictures of musicians, because they have so much life and I want to be the person to capture that life in a picture. A musician once told me "The honour is mine", he meant this in a way to express his gratitude of playing for people. I use this philosophy as a way of saying, I am honoured that people allow me to take pictures and capture their true selves. Musicians are not the only people full of life. I like to capture images of different people in their natural environment because that is when you are most apt to see the real person, to capture their true personality. This is the reason I also like to photograph people with tattoos, because ink is a fascinating and distinctive way for an individual to express themselves and I love capturing their self-expression. As I drive or walk around, I watch people, and I become inspired. I see creative images in my mind and once I get that image I just have to create it. Sometimes I am able to recreate these images that I see on the streets to capture the RAW personalities. I take advantage of what is around me to make my photography RAW!