Anne Emerson-Twin, Photographer, Poet, and Writer
Anne Emerson, a.k.a. Annie
A Twin is Born a Communicator
(Think about it... pre-language,
struggling to fit two in one womb??)
My Photography
Anne learned photography from Photo Club members and speakers, Adult Education classes, books, and practice in the field. She once worked as a photographer for Sears Portrait Studio, and also, briefly, apprenticed to a wedding photographer.
Anne's main photographic interest lies in its artistic possibilities, including portraiture. She was born (the younger of identical twins) and raised in England, where some friends nick-named her Annie. She moved to the United States in 1977 with her DC-born husband. After retirement, they relocated to Williamsburg, Virginia.
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For many years, she belonged to - having co-founded and often leading - a photo club in Northern Virginia which was a subgroup of a visual arts league. As a participant in that league, she learned about aspects of the visual arts that all have in common. During this period, she participated in many shows and received several awards, including one Best in Show. Some of her photographs were purchased for private collections.
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Over the past ten years, her photos have been accepted into high quality juried shows. Two entries won Special Merit Awards in the annual Joseph Miller Abstract Show. Most recently, she exhibited in Arts Herndon's Fine Art Photography Exhibit, May 2023, and was awarded an Honorable Mention. In Williamsburg, she belongs to the Colonial Nature Photography Club, where she received two second-place awards in their annual (new members') competition.
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She makes photo products such as cards, calendars, photo books, and photo blankets, using her own photos. These are available locally. She also creates digital slide shows and videos, using Photoshop Elements and Premiere Elements, having received instruction on visual story-telling techniques from a friend. This website was established in November 2021.
My Poetry
Anne Emerson is incorrigibly interested in everything. She likes to work with her hands (creating flower gardens and arrangements, taking photos, solving small mechanical problems, fixing all sorts of things), and also spends hours in thought - ideas running off in many directions.
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She prefers lyrical poetry, rich in imagery, both visual and emotional, and tries to create poems containing those elements. She also enjoys writing poems about photos she missed by not "seizing the moment," and likes to match photos with poems, whichever of the two might have been inspired first.
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Anne was born in England and immigrated to the U.S., to be with her DC-born husband, on 7-7-77. They lived in the DC area for many years, retiring to Williamsburg, Virginia in 2018. Her proclivity for writing has found her editing newsletters, serving as recording secretary, and making accurate notes in all sorts of volunteer roles.
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Anne’s poems have been published in several editions of the annual anthologies, NoVA Bards and The Poets' Domain. They have also been self-published in "Pics and Poems," Volumes I and II, her own photo books. She belongs to the James City Poets, and the Poetry Society of Virginia. She has presented poetry (her own and others’) to small groups in Northern Virginia and in Williamsburg.
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Anne also has worked as a photographer for Sears Portrait Studio; she has taught French to young children and Economics to BBA and MBA students; as Office Manager, and worker in the Finance Department, she helped, and observed, as an IT start-up grew into a mid-sized company.
My Essays
Annie learned to write essays in a private school, to which she was fortunate to have received a scholarship, and a well-regarded University in England, where reading books and writing essays (and solving mathematical problems, if one studied the sciences) were the norm. These skills, along with creative insight and intuition, served her well when it came to advanced research and reading in the social sciences. She specializes in Economics (with an interest in long run trends and cultural histories), but also reads popular and scholarly works in psychology, sociology, and cultural studies. A few of her essays have been printed in a small community magazine; these and others are now published on this website.