Quiescent Fall 2012 | Home

Quiescent Magazine: Tell us a little bit about yourself.

Danielle Pearce: My name is Danielle Pearce and I am 17 years old. I live in Virginia Beach, Virginia where I have lived for my whole life. I grew up as a dancer, so music is a huge inspiration to me!

QM: How and when did you get into photographing? What has changed about it since then? Also, how has photography impacted your life?

DP: How I got into photography is sort of a funny story...

When I was 13, in the summer before 8th grade, I became obsessed with the internet and youtube as most teenagers do. I started watching videos by Mitchell Davis and fell in love with his creative video productions. This caused me to join photography club with my friends, where my passion began to sky rocket. Our first assignment was to take 10 pictures of one object. To do the assignment i used my mom’s Nikon D40 (it was my first time ever picking up a DSLR) and the pictures turned out pretty well. When I took it back to the teacher he was astounded by how amazing the pictures were. He actually used them as an example for the rest of my peers. Having this support was what allowed me to prosper in my talent.

Since 8th grade, some things have changed about photography for me. I still have the same support from everyone that I know, but my style and goals have changed dramatically. Now, instead of wanting to take self portraits and picture of objects, I direct myself to do more portraits, fashion, and creative shoots!

Photography flipped my world upside down in a matter of months. Before I stumbled upon my dreams, I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life and I focused all of my time and energy on ballet class. Since then I have actually quit ballet to focus on taking pictures. Not only that, but people tend to refer to me as the photo girl :) Which is something I learned to get used to.

QM: What defines home to you?

DP: Home is not a place or a thing, it is more of a feeling.

To me, home is anywhere that has a comforting memory to it; anything that will leave a smile eternally in my heart.

For instance, even though I often dread it, school is a sort of home to me because of the memories that have been created there.

QM: What keeps you motivated as an artist?

DP: Many things spawn my motivation as an artist. My dreams and goals as a photographer keep me pushing forward as an artist. I know that this is what I want to do with my life, which makes me never want to give up. Looking at other people›s work also motivates me by giving me inspiration.

QM: Describe your style.

DP: What is my style? Well this is such a hard question for me to answer because I feel like I am still discovering it. I love to shoot people in creative ways and I love to use a lot of contrast between shadows and light. I don›t know, I guess I have a hard time pinpointing my style because I feel like its always transforming.