Sal Taylor Kydd
About
Sal Taylor Kydd (https://www.saltaylorkydd.com/) Originally from the UK, photographer and artist Sal Taylor Kydd earned her BA in Modern Languages from Manchester University in the UK and has an MFA in Photography from Maine Media College. Her fine art photographs have been exhibited throughout the country and internationally, including Barcelona, San Miguel De Allende, Portland, Boston and Los Angeles. Sal is also a writer and poet, and has self-published a number of books combining her poetry with her photographs. Her books are in numerous private and museum collections throughout the country including The Getty Museum and the Maine Women Writer’s Collection at the University of New England. Sal’s latest book Landfall, produced by Datz Press, is a limited edition book of poems and photographs about the islands off the coast of Maine. Her book Just When I Thought I Had You, is now in its second edition. Sal also teaches and is on the board of Maine Media Workshops & College in Rockport ME.
Scheduled to Teach
Gallery
LACP Interviews Sal Taylor Kydd
LACP asks Sal Taylor Kydd ten questions about her background, career in and beliefs about photography.
Los Angeles Center of Photography: What kind of photographer are you?
Sal Taylor Kydd: I would describe myself as a mixed media photographic artist. I work primarily in the fine art and book arts world and am very much interested in the photograph as an object, or keepsake, which ties in with the theme of memory that I like to explore in my work.
LACP: How long have you been shooting?
STK: I have always been fascinated with photographs. There was a certain drawer in the hall where I grew up where all the family photographs lived, stuffed in no particular order. I would pore over them, trying to connect them with my own recollections of people or places. I really didn’t begin making pictures seriously until I had children, when they became my readily available subjects.
LACP: Where did you get your training?
STK: My formative training was through Maine Media Workshops. I went through their MFA program which is low residency, it worked really well with my life at the time. I had always spent a lot of time in Maine and it was a welcome excuse to return.
LACP: When did you know you wanted to devote your life to photography?
STK: The fascination with photography was always there. My father collected cameras so it was part of our lives. However it was only later in life though that I was really able to financially risk building a new career out of something that had always been a passion.
LACP: Did you ever come close to giving up?
STK: There have definitely been times of self-doubt and questioning why I do this, but I cannot ever imagine giving up. Photography makes my life so much richer, I feel extraordinarily fortunate to be able to spend my doing it.
LACP: Have you sacrificed anything by being a photographer?
STK: I left a successful career to take a chance on a new career with photography. Also my MFA involved traveling away from my family which felt like a real sacrifice at the time. However, in the end these sacrifices have paid off in ways I couldn’t have imagined. I get to spend my time working from home, doing what I love.
LACP: What have you gained by being a photographer?
STK: The biggest gift that being a photographer has given me is the gift of presence. I live my life, or try to, paying attention and appreciating the natural world and my family and how they both grow and change each year.
LACP: What classes do you teach at LACP?
STK: I teach Lyrical Photography and Text and Image classes at LACP.
LACP: What do you love most about teaching?
STK: What I love most about teaching is what I learn from my students. It sounds corny but I come out of every class refreshed and inspired by the new perspectives my students bring to class.
LACP: What advice would you give someone who is thinking about making a career in photography?
STK: I think the main thing I would say is to be patient and take your time. There is so much pressure in this Instagram world to get work out there as soon as possible to be relevant. Work takes time to resolve and mature. By all means share your work, but also allow a project to develop, you never know where it is going to take you.