Christmas in Connecticut | Featured Photographer Caryn B. Davis

WHAT’S YOUR CONNECTION TO NEW ENGLAND?

Many years ago I worked for a nonprofit called Orbis International. I was fortunate enough to travel to 11 Third World countries in one year aboard the Orbis DC-10, a wide-body airplane that had been converted into an eye hospital. At the end of my tenure, I was trying to decide where in the world I wanted to live. When imaging the map of the United States in my head, it became clear that New England was the only choice for me. There is just something about the ancientness of this place, the physical landscape, its rich history, the timelessness of the quaint coastal villages, having four seasons, and the antique homes and buildings that resonated with my soul. And while I still love to travel far and wide, I always feel a deep sense of peace and belonging when I return home.

DESCRIBE YOUR BACKGROUND IN PHOTOGRAPHY.

I began my career in the visual arts in New York City as a producer, director, writer, cameraperson, and editor of television documentaries. But I always wanted to be a photographer, so in 2000 I changed careers. I now specialize in architecture, landscape/garden, travel, and yacht photography. I also write, and I have combined words and images to create articles that have appeared in over 60 magazines. I am primarily self-taught, although I did attend some weeklong workshops, and of course I am always sharpening my skills and learning new ones as technology evolves.

WHAT GEAR DO YOU USE?

I’ve been using Canon cameras ever since I purchased my first AE-1, in 1981. I have two 5D Mark III’s; a Really Right Stuff tripod; a Giottos tripod; assorted Canon speed lights; a variety of lights that include Alien Bees, Hensel, and a Lowell GL-1; numerous modifiers; and Canon L-series lenses such as a 24-105mm, 24mm Tilt-Shift, and 70-200mm.

WHO OR WHAT INSPIRES YOU?

For photographers, I love Horst P. Horst, Bruce Weber, Annie Leibovitz, Anne Geddes, Lauren Greenfield, and Rania Matar. But what inspires me is beauty, art, and design. In the man-made world it could be a modern skyscraper, an antique home, a wooden boat, a dry-laid stone wall, a sculpture, an exquisite piece of furniture, or a garden. In the natural world it could be the ocean, the jungle, a forest, or animals. I am also inspired when I travel. I thirst to know how people live and work in other parts of the world. I’m fascinated by their marketplaces, their churches and temples, and the structures they occupy, and what those spaces say about a culture or an individual.

The following images originally appeared in Caryn B. Davis’s new book, Christmas in Connecticut (Globe Pequot Press, 2017). To see more of her work, go to carynbdavis.com.

CHRISTMAS IN CONNECTICUT | FEATURED PHOTOGRAPHER CARYN B. DAVIS

This post was first published in 2017 and has been updated. 

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