peek into my looking glass...

My name is Claire Frances Taylor. I am recent graduate from Arizona State University Polytechnic Campus, with a degree in Graphic Information Technology (GIT). It's often difficult for me to take a picture of myself, as seen by the picture on the left. But I do love my dog, Loki. :)

Education Goals:
I've finally finished my BS in GIT, with an emphasis in photography. But that doesn't mean I'm finished learning. At some point, I want to be able to take more photography classes, especially to learn some film stuff. Most commercial photography is done in digital (partly because it's much more forgiving), and so the photo studio at ASUP is completely digital. Unfortunately, this means I've never learned to develop film, and I would like to. I also plan to take a few classes in bookbinding, and probably a few other art type classes. I always love to learn new things, so that's only the beginning of how I plan to expand my horizons.

Hobbies:

• I like to be creative!
• Drawing - I like to draw mostly dragons, but sometimes I feel inspired enough to do other things too. I designed the banner and other art around this website!
• Writing - I am currently working on several fantasy stories. One of my dreams is to get them illustrated and published. I have one that is more or less completed and can be viewed here
• Reading - I love to read books, usually mostly science fiction and fantasy. Authors like R.A. Salvatore, Mercedes Lackey, and Elizabeth Moon inspired me to write!
• Taking pictures - I love animals and wildlife, so most of my pictures are of these. One of my dreams is to be a wildlife photographer for National Geographic.
• Photo manipulation & painting in Photoshop (I LOVE Adobe Products)
• Fiber arts - I like to spin, which is what was traditionally used to make yarn. I say "fiber arts" instead of just "spinning" because there is a lot of preparation that I sometimes need to do to the raw fiber before it can actually be spun on the spinning wheel: washing, skirting, cleaning, carding... sometimes more than once. I also know how to knit and weave too, I just don't enjoy them as much as I enjoy working on a spinning wheel.
• Video Games - my boyfriend is studying to be a video game designer, so he's gotten me into all sorts of video games. My favorites so far are the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time & Twilight Princess, and any of the Guitar Hero games. I'm also an avid player of World of Warcraft (WoW) when I can afford it - it's where my primary nickname, Stormwatcher, came from.
• Travel - I do like to travel, and to have adventures. I'm from Pennsylvania, and for family vacations we used to drive up to Maine or the Adirondacks (in New York State) for our family vacation, or to visit family. As a result, I've driven through or visited every state on the east coast. Since I'm so far from home at college, this is almost like one big adventure because I get to discover AZ and hopefully this semester will do some traveling within the state (I previously didn't have a car). I've also been to Los Angelos, California to see the Pacific Ocean!

Elfwood & DeviantArt are two of the most popular (I think) artist websites out there. Occasionally I go through a kick of wanting to upload my stuff to something.
Elfwood
Deviant Art


I am also on Twitter, and my blog is done through Tumblr.

(all images & content designed and © Copyright Claire Taylor)
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