AVANT GUARDIANS By Leticia Gonzales
Capturing emotions Emily Stark keeps pushing to grow as a photographer
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hile Emily Stark, a professor with the Department of Psychology at Minnesota State University, has never had any formal training as a photographer, her lifelong love of the art form has been a transformative part of her creative abilities and as a lifelong dancer. “I don’t see too much connection between my artistic pursuits of photography and dance, but I have always loved the arts and enjoy having these different routes to engage with artistic activities,” said Stark, who lives in St. Peter. She uses both a DSLR as well as a cellphone camera, focusing primarily on landscapes and other nature photography “When I first got a digital camera, I could finally spend time trying over and over again to capture a landscape scene,” said Stark, 44. “Being able to check my picture 12 • FEBRUARY 2022 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
on the camera and take a bunch of shots without having to pay to develop each one really gave me the opportunity to work on composition and learn how to approach photographing different scenes and how different angles can change the overall feel of a picture.” Her technical skills continue to evolve as she focuses on capturing the perfect photo. “I think my lack of formal training or schooling in photography has helped me be more open to trying new things, but it’s also made it more difficult for me to see myself and my work as legitimate,” she said. “I tend to edit my photos to increase saturation and contrast — I’m less interested in capturing scenes exactly how they look and more focused on creating an emotional feeling or mood through creating a little surrealism through editing.” Her upbringing has also influenced the type of images
