Meet Terri Bailey | Photographer & Analytic Consultant

We had the good fortune of connecting with Terri Bailey and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Terri, what do you want people to remember about you?
Happiness. I want people to remember being happy around me, or experience happiness looking at my photography. I get a lot of joy being in nature and experiencing the beauty of it. I hope that people experience that by looking at my photography. Or encouraged to find a bit of that on their own. You can experience it in your own backyard, you don’t have to travel. But I do recommend travel if you can!

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I love flowers. And watching bees and butterflies. That’s how I first started in photography – I loved watching the bees and butterflies on the flowers in my flowerbeds and decided I wanted to have pictures of them to help me remember that joy during the long winter months (I live in Iowa). My family liked my photographs of bees & butterflies on flowers. And the photographs of the flowers in general. Then others noticed them. And it just grew from there. I took a photography class in college, but I can honestly tell you – if you don’t use it you lose it. I had to re-learn a lot, and learn new things, considering I had learned film photography there and now use digital. It wasn’t easy, learning to photograph bees, butterflies and other moving objects. Even the flowers move with the wind. You’re trying to get nice and close to capture the details, which means when they move you have to totally reset, but eventually you get the rhythm. I’ve had a lot of trial and error. There are so many bad shots that I’ve kept just to remind myself of how far I’ve come. I take fewer shots now. Have learned what will transfer into a good shot vs what just looks good with your eyes. That’s a big challenge, learning what will capture other people’s eye. It’s different, every time, and sometimes frustrating. But it’s worth it, when you capture a shot that shows exactly what you saw and the joy you had while experiencing it. Not giving up, even when frustrated, that’s what I’d suggest for anyone following their dreams.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I always recommend the Phoenix Zoo. It’s set up so comfortably compared to some places I’ve visited. The animals seem at ease there, despite all of the people staring at them. Next up would be the Desert Botanical Garden. Arizona is home to such interesting plant and animal life. People think “Grand Canyon” or “desert” when they think Arizona, but there is so much interesting life in those two words. Hiking is always a favorite for me, so I’d have to also recommend Camelback Mountain and Echo Canyon.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My family. My parents, husband, children are my rock. Even cousins, aunts and uncles have all been super supportive of my photography. They encourage my efforts, go hiking with me, stop on the side of the road when we’re driving, put up with me “taking 100 pictures of the same thing” and even let me plan vacations around nature spots I want to see & photograph. Without my family, I’d still be dreaming instead of doing.

Website: me2atphotography.smugmug.com

Instagram: @me_2_a_t_photography