Photo of the Month | December - Palmetto Bella Magazine

Ken Mayo

December 3, 2019

Memories – that is the joy one gets from a camera. That is what photography is all about.

As a kid I remember loving to look at family photo albums and watching my father play with the new polaroid instant camera given to him as a Christmas present in the mid to late 60’s. At that time in life family was everything, and on every holiday occasion he would have with him that camera and would be snapping shots and joyously handing them out to anyone that found themselves in his line of sight. It was fun watching him and the laughs he created with aunts, uncles and cousins.

It wasn’t until 2000 that the bug caught me. That was the year I first held in my hands my own camera, and like my father before me I was instantly hooked with a hobby, actually, a passion I never anticipated. My favorite subject then, my daughter, who at first was reluctant to pose, but quickly caught on. My what a beautiful smile she has if I do say so myself.

I went from the small Kodak 1.3 megapixel, to an Olympus 3 megapixel and eventually to Canon’s line of DSLR’s – 10D, 20D, 40D, 1D Mark II N and now the wonderful 5D Mark IV with all the necessary lenses that create amazing results.
There is so much you can learn about settings, lighting, composition etc., but when it’s all said and done the
technology today is quite amazing.

With a brother that use to run pool leagues in Tampa I found myself functioning as the team (camera) shooter on a trip to Vegas. Not often when you see a composition that you know will be a winner. This one was (IMHO). The lighting was perfect!

Ken Mayo

From Philadelphia to Florida and now Aiken, SC, Ken Mayo has photographed friends, strangers (with permission of course), weddings, wildlife, greyhounds, sunsets, golf courses, many landmarks and monuments and even taught photography classes for home school programs. After his childhood, four years in the service, college, grad school and a 30 plus year career in the political trenches he, too, now has a (professional hobby) that, like his father, finds pleasure in seeing the joy it brings to others.

Ken Mayo

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