I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!   I want to send a happy happy birthday to Jes - I hope your day is as wonderful as you are!

Who is your favorite artist and why?

I must admit, this is a tough one.  Just picking one is hard.  I debated between several artists in several categories.  It was hard choosing one when there are people like Robert Capa, Frieda Khalo, Emily Bronte (I consider writers artists too), Salvador Dali, and so many more wonderful creators of art I have not named to choose from. 

After much deliberation, I decided on Robert Doisneau. 

From The Encyclopedia of Photography (1984):  Robert Doisneau, one of France's most popular and prolific reportage photographers, is known for his modest, playful, and ironic images of amusing juxtapositions, mingling social classes, and eccentrics in contemporary Paris streets and cafes. Influenced by the work of Kertesz, Atget, and Cartier-Bresson, in over 20 books Doisneau has presented a charming vision of human frailty and life as a series of quiet, incongruous moments. He has written: "The marvels of daily life are exciting; no movie director can arrange the unexpected that you find in the street."

His work inspires me to become a better photographer, and when I see a photograph he has taken,  my mind dreams up the lives the people he has captured portray, my imagination runs wild, and I love that.  Some of his work makes my heart soar, and that feeling is like none other.  His work is some that I can always remember loving, even when I was young.  I choose him as my favorite because his work makes me feel, makes me think and use my (already over active) imagination and makes me strive to be a better photographer. 

"A hundredth of a second here, a hundredth of a second there - even if
you put them end to end, they still only add up to one, two, perhaps three seconds, snatched from eternity."

~ Robert Doisneau