Hornick’s mother was an artist and a big inspiration for Shamara when it came to branching out and becoming more artistic. Hornick, a New Ulm native, is a professional photographer now and uses several different lessons her mom taught her in her work today.

Hornick’s mother passed away in 2011, but Hornick will never forget the many qualities and talents that her mom shared with her and the rest of the world.

“She was an artist,” Hornick said. “She drew and painted for people and their family — like portraits and stuff — so I watched her draw and she taught me how to do all of the different facial features.

“She taught me how to pay attention to the small details in drawing and I just kind of used that information in my photography,” Hornick said. “Just paying attention to those small details can make a huge difference at the end of what you’re creating.”

Photo by Shamara Hornick An original compostion by Shamara Hornick. One example of many style techniques Hornick uses in her work.

Hornick recollects the several hours of drawing with her mother. She recalls a time where a drawing she did of the human eye left her mom amazed.

Hornick said that the eye was one of her best drawings, hence the name My Eye Photography for her photography business, which started in February of 2016. Hornick now has her own studio in New Ulm that had its grand opening on Saturday.

The studio is located on 526 South Minnesota Street and if that address sounds familiar to you at all, it’s because it’s where you’ll find The Old Corner Store, which now hosts Hornick’s studio. Hornick offers all kinds of different photography sessions, including families, portraits, newborns, weddings and senior year pictures.

Hornick feels that her main area of expertise, however, is in fine art and conceptual photography. It’s hard to question her after seeing a list of the awards that she has already won as an active member of the Minnesota Professional Photographers Association.

Since graduating from Ridgewater College in Minnesota for Professional Photography in 2015, Hornick has amassed several MNPPA awards, including being named the 2015 Student of the Year.

Photo by Shamara Hornick “Attic of the Mind” received the Ellertson Award and contributed to Hornick’s score to become the Illustrative Photographer of the year in 2017.

She was also named to the 2016 Court of Honor, took home a 2016 Judges Choice Award, was the 2017 Illustrative Photographer of the Year and was also the winner of the 2017 Ellertson Award, which goes to the best illustrative or commercial/industrial print of the competition.

Hornick took a modest approach when I brought up her awards, spending less time talking about the awards and more time telling me about her passion for photography and how much she enjoys seeing the finished product from a session.

“The best part is probably seeing my images as a final product, getting them printed and hearing other people’s opinion out of it,” Hornick said. “Also, making my clients happy by revealing to them the final product and giving them something they can cherrish for a lifetime and hand down from generation to generation.”

Every artist, whether they specialize in drawing or photography, has to deal with critics. Hornick welcomes the feedback, especially in competition, but she also does her best to block out negative comments that aren’t as constructive.

“I love being critiqued,” Hornick added. “Especially during competition. The judges all talk about the image and say what’s right. They talk about the 12 elements of art — compostion and coloring and telling a story and all that. Just seeing a different perspective kind of makes me see what I did wrong and I can improve from what they say.

“But there’s always the broad comments that are not as constructive and people talking you down — and I’ve had that in my life,” Hornick added. “But you just gotta ignore it and focus on yourself.”

Aside from being inspired by her mother, Hornick also takes great inspiration from getting out into the world and exploring, which is what she does with her yearly road trips.

“It’s easy to say that I find a lot of my inspiration through photographers and photographs, but the truth is, I’m most inspired by getting away from the computer screen and just clearing my mind,” Hornick said. “I believe inspiration can be found anywhere and anything can trigger that spark inside your soul. You’ve just gotta open up your eyes and realize what’s truly out there.

“Also what triggers a lot of my inspiration is exploring my mind, finding new locations for photoshoots and the biggest one is road tripping across the United States,” Hornick said. “I do that once a year just to kind of refresh my brain. I road trip to Bismarck, North Dakota to see one of my best friends every year and then I go from there to Rapid City, South Dakota and there’s a campground place that I stay at by myself. And this year I went to Colorado.”

Hornick believes that every photo she takes from a session will be frame-worthy and invites the pubic to stop in and visit.

You can follow Hornick on Facebook for more information by searching My Eye Photography by Shamara Hornick or check out her website at myeyephotography.design to book your own photoshoot with her.