Photography as the Beginning of Life: Andrew Lauffer

Guest Author: Leslie Fast (OVAC Intern)

Andrew Lauffer, The Protected Tree, Photography, 11x14

Growing up in Protection, Kansas, Andrew Lauffer discovered his passion for photography early in high school.

Andrew suffered through a stroke at age four, which left a tremor that he discovered can be controlled through photography. “…Ever since, I have loved taking pictures, and it does help!” Andrew writes, “I am thankful for my high school computer teacher. I started out in sports photography, which I still do, but not as much as my still life, landscapes, and contemporary.”

Andrew received an Oklahoma Visual Arts Coalition Professional Basics Grant to help with installation costs for his first photography exhibition, “Where Life Began.”  The show highlighted Andrews progress from growing up in Kansas, to the present where he currently teaches full time at Northwestern Oklahoma State University in Alva.

Artist Andrew Lauffer (r) chatting with attendees of his exhibition.

After receiving funding from the grant, Andrew expressed the benefits of his first photography show he had planned since December of 2011.

“The successful thing was that people were amazed and wanted me to do an all Protection, Kansas photography show. Photography for me is a change in my life. I hope I show people a way to change the way they look at things through my photography.”

The grant not only helped Andrew fund his first show, but also gave insight for planning future photography exhibitions as an emerging artist.

The next OVAC Artist Grant deadline is July 15. See the OVAC website for more information.