Mobile Photography & Art – ‘Intimate Interview’ with Lou Ann Sanford Donahue from Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
We have decided to launch a new intimate style of interview into TheAppWhisperer – the world’s most popular mobile photography and art website. We feel it is important that our community feel close to each other, as it is this support that helps us to nurture one another, gain confidence and continue to grow.
This is our twenty second interview, to read the others, please go here. Today, we are publishing this deeply rewarding to read and view interview with Lou Ann Sanford Donahue from Salt Lake City, Utah, United States.
All images ©Lou Ann Sanford Donahue
What was your childhood or earliest ambition?
To be a school teacher.
First Recognition
Being published in the creative writing magazine for poetry in high school.
First Job
Working in a fast food restaurant at 16. It was a fun job as many friends worked with me and friends from high school were always dropping by. Not much work got done.
Private or State school?
State (public) school.
University or Work?
Three years at university and then working 50 years in the medical field.
Who was or is still is your mentor?
So many. The encouragement and inspiration that I have experienced since joining the digital art world is extraordinary.
How physically fit are you?
Since retirement I have been striving to be more physically fit.
Ambition or talent: What matters more to success?
I believe there must be a combination of the two to succeed. There must also be passion mixed in. Without the passion there is no real personal success.
How politically committed are you?
In the current political environment in the US I am not committed as much as disappointed in how we got to this point.
What would you like to own that you don’t currently possess?
More stamps on my passport. My goal is to travel more.
What’s your biggest extravagance?
My computers, iPad, art/digital supplies and camera.
In what places are you happiest?
My home. I downsized five years ago and now live in a small apartment that makes me so happy. I have everything I need and love in it.
What ambitions do you still have?
To eventually have a gallery show and to continue to grow through my art.
What drives you on?
Knowing that every morning I get up and am so excited about my art. The fact that there is still so much to learn keeps me going every day.
What is the greatest achievement of your life so far?
Most definitely my children and grandchildren. My daughter and son make me so proud of the people they have become. They are both exceptional parents and have given me the greatest gift of four grandchildren.
What do you find most irritating in other people?
Lack of self confidence and dishonesty.
If your 20 year old self could see you now, what would she think?
She would say thank goodness you finally found yourself even if it took so many years. She would be so proud of me!
Which object that you’ve lost do you wish you still had?
My mom’s emerald ring that was lost after she passed away.
What is the greatest challenge of our time?
Lack of respect for our world and the people in it.
Do you believe in an afterlife?
Until just the past few years this wasn’t something I really thought about. As I have grown older and lost loved ones I am hoping that there is an afterlife. Not so much that I want to see those lost – more that I hope they are having a great time in heaven with their family and friends!
If you had to rate your satisfaction with your life so far, out of 10, what would you score?
My life has had many ups and downs over the years, but if I were to rate it now I would definitely give it a strong 9 – leaving room for more amazing adventures!
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TheAppWhisperer has always had a dual mission: to promote the most talented mobile artists of the day and to support ambitious, inquisitive viewers the world over. As the years passTheAppWhisperer has gained readers and viewers and found new venues for that exchange. All this work thrives with the support of our community.
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Joanne Carter
Joanne Carter, creator of the world’s most popular mobile photography and art website— TheAppWhisperer.com— TheAppWhisperer platform has been a pivotal cyberspace for mobile artists of all abilities to learn about, to explore, to celebrate and to share mobile artworks. Joanne’s compassion, inclusivity, and humility are hallmarks in all that she does, and is particularly evident in the platform she has built. In her words, “We all have the potential to remove ourselves from the centre of any circle and to expand a sphere of compassion outward; to include everyone interested in mobile art, ensuring every artist is within reach”, she has said. Promotion of mobile artists and the art form as a primary medium in today’s art world, has become her life’s focus. She has presented lectures bolstering mobile artists and their art from as far away as the Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea to closer to her home in the UK at Focus on Imaging. Her experience as a jurist for mobile art competitions includes: Portugal, Canada, US, S Korea, UK and Italy. And her travels pioneering the breadth of mobile art includes key events in: Frankfurt, Naples, Amalfi Coast, Paris, Brazil, London. Pioneering the world’s first mobile art online gallery - TheAppWhispererPrintSales.com has extended her reach even further, shipping from London, UK to clients in the US, Europe and The Far East to a global group of collectors looking for exclusive art to hang in their homes and offices. The online gallery specialises in prints for discerning collectors of unique, previously unseen signed limited edition art. Her journey towards becoming The App Whisperer, includes (but is not limited to) working for a paparazzi photo agency for several years and as a deputy editor for a photo print magazine. Her own freelance photographic journalistic work is also widely acclaimed. She has been published extensively both within the UK and the US in national and international titles. These include The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, Popular Photography & Imaging, dpreview, NikonPro, Which? and more recently with the BBC as a Contributor, Columnist at Vogue Italia and Contributing Editor at LensCulture. Her professional photography has also been widely exhibited throughout Europe, including Italy, Portugal and the UK. She is currently writing several books, all related to mobile art and is always open to requests for new commissions for either writing or photography projects or a combination of both. Please contact her at: [email protected]
