Photo by: Isabel Fierro Taylor

The wind moves, the trees rustle and I am immediately stopped in silence to observe the golden leaves slowly sashaying to the ground. Their color and vibrancy mesmerize me, immersing me in a visual dance that draws me to photograph the beauty of nature in this season.

Whether making jewelry, photographs, or books, the process is remarkably the same. Curiosity, color, movement, light – these are the things that charm my soul and give meaning to my work as an artist. As a photographer, traveling someplace new and seeing the landscape for the first time brings a rush and tingle of excitement to my brain.  It is undoubtedly part of what makes choosing this profession so much fun.  Where to start photographing?  An overload of sensory information is always present when exploring somewhere that is unfamiliar.  So what about the familiar?  As a photo instructor, I often challenge my students to see the world outside their backdoor as ‘fresh’ and to find visual interest in the everydayness of what lies in their own backyard.  It is my contention that good photographs don’t just happen because you are in a new place; you must be able to ‘see’ photographs in the everyday, the mundane.  With that idea firmly grounded in my mind, I have given myself a self-assigned project to photograph intensely in my own “backyard”, literally and figuratively.  This project has grown into a portfolio of images where I have discovered a place of limitless possibilities.  

Photography led me to bookbinding as a way to encase and share my photographs, but it has become an entirely different creative expression for me.  A book is at once public and yet private, for once the cover has been opened, it has the potential to hold countless mysteries and muses. While closed, it intrigues the viewer to open it, to discover treasures and become happily lost inside.  My books are meant to be touched, a way for viewers to hold something that is immediately intimate, just by the act of holding it.  While most of my books have deep and personal meanings in the form of journals or memory keepers, others are a celebration of the beauty of the world as my faith has led me to see it.

I follow my inner passion and continually challenge myself to learn something new, to push the boundaries of my capabilities in various forms of multi-media.  Whatever art I pursue, I seek to convey the wonders of the world and to be aware of the gifts that God gives me everyday.  Edward Elgar, the great composer once said “My idea is that there is music in the air, music all around us; the world is full of it, and you simply take as much as you require.”   I am sure he was referring to any art form, and I have found it to be true.  Beauty is all around us.  We just have to be willing and ready to accept the gift. 

Benita VanWinkle is currently teaching adults and teenagers photography, altered art, bookbinding and other creative courses throughout the NC triad area. Formerly the admissions director and photography instructor at The Creative Circus, a premier advertising and photography school in Atlanta, GA, She moved to the Winston-Salem area almost five years ago and embraced the local art community.  She worked at The Sawtooth School for Visual Art as the Program Director before leaving to pursue her freelance teaching and her personal artistic passions. 

 Exhibiting in many local and regional art shows as well as galleries throughout the NC, her work can be viewed in Winston-Salem at Textures Gallery and the Associated Artists Gallery.  “Please Remain Standing”, a documentary of vintage movie theaters that began over 20 years ago is on display at Clark-Powell Associates in Winston-Salem, NC. 

Benita received her MFA from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, IL where she also served on the Board of Advisors for the Cinema and Photography department.  She continues to work with many non-profit organizations in NC and has been an ongoing committee chairperson for “Birdfest” with Forsyth Habitat for Humanity.   She recently organized and chaired a “Faith and Arts Festival” held at Brookstown United Methodist Church where she also serves as the youth director. 

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