Artists Statement of Frank and Kim Hawkins

Having met in the Eastern Sierras over 15 years ago, Frank and Kim both love the area and enjoy similar activities. As their love grew so did their creativity. They both have an ever growing interest in photography and art.

Besides their love for each other, Frank and Kim have found another common love.... serving the Lord. Both are very dedicated to their church, community, and getting the gospel out there. Both take the time to volunteer for ministry. They also help out with the local Christian radio station and can be heard on KWTW - Living Proof Broadcasting.

For more on Frank and Kim's individual bio's, please continue below:

Artists Statement of Frank Lee Hawkins

Over the past 30 years I have enjoyed capturing images of areas that I have been blessed to live in and visit. I've been living in the Eastern Sierra since 1982. That's over half my life.

Photographers that Influence me are Galen Rowell, Ansel Adams and others to numerous to mention.

Artists that influence me are Eyvind Earle, Roger Dean, Greg Newbold, Bruce Ricker, Salvador Dali, Jacek Yerka and most recently Ernst Haeckel

I thank God for enough health to hike into his creation and the means to capture a moment of the experience in a photograph. I'm thankful for the means to share that moment with you. Art and photography have always been a part of my life.

I've never ceased to be amazed at the awesome beauty which God has so abundantly blessed this area with. This more than anything is the inspiration and influence which I can only hope is evident throughout my photography and art.

Thanks be to Jesus Christ my Lord and my Savior for letting me live here,
with His word in my heart and His beauty in my face and on my mind.


Artists Statement of Kim Hawkins:

A mostly self taught, artist in training, is how I think of myself. I had a lot of art classes in school, but since I never had the money (or the talent) for formal training, I've had to teach myself. An avid reader, I picked up on several varieties of creative talents including: photography, ceramics, sewing and fashion, jewelry making, crochet, embroidering, horticultural arts and more.

If I had been a little more attune to where I wanted to go with my creativity, I would have liked to gotten more photography training in. I believe lacking the darkroom training has hindered me somewhat, but being able to go from "sparingly" shooting with a "film" camera, to shooting to max out a memory card (sometimes hundreds of shots in a day), I think has helped me further along my progress as a photographer. It also helps that I don't feel the need to compete with the "giants" of photography in the Eastern Sierras. If I have learned one thing from all those "giants" it's this..... "the more you get out there and shoot, the better your chances of getting that ONCE in A LIFETIME shot!"

I use my own unique perspective of the things I see. I find if I try to shoot a "popular" Sierra picture, mine will never look quite as good as someone else's, but if I look around and really take the time to see what's around me, I always seem to surprise myself with something special. A good example of this is to look at some of Frank's pictures of beautiful landscapes of a particular place and then you may see me post a shot of a dead tree stump, taken at the very same location! Frank sees the whole picture, while I focus in on the little things. I think this is what makes us a really good team, we are not trying to out do each other, we both get our own perspective on an area of photography we enjoy.