I have had the privilege of not only knowing Jaclyn Cori Norman, but having her as a professor three quarters in a row here at SCAD. Jaclyn's work has been an inspiration to me and my work from the first time I saw it last fall. Her early work focused on self portraiture and extended self portraits through objects. Her body of work, "The Day the Moon Went Away" and "When There is Nothing Left" are probably my favorite of her photographs. In both series, I am completely taken aback by her ability to capture raw, real, pain, heartache and loss. I had the chance to view darkroom prints of photos from both of these series and I was brought to tears the first time I heard the story behind them. Jaclyn is, without a doubt, the reason my photography is what it is. Before I had Jaclyn as a professor, my work was at the surface level. After taking her for black and white film photography, my entire aesthetic made a change for the better and I learned what it mean to put every ounce of emotion I had into a body of work. When I took Jaclyn for the photographic book-making class, I was given the opportunity to learn even more from her. My series on twins from that class wouldn't have been possible without the critiques I received from her and the inspiration I got from her series of photos on her own twins. Jaclyn's more recent work focuses on capturing her twin daughters, Cori and Cameron and became a huge eye-opener to me in regards to photographing children; twins specifically. Now that I am doing a self portrait series under her guidance yet again, I am reminded once more of how lucky I am to have her as a mentor and inspiration. I have no doubt that, even when I am well past my years at SCAD, I will continue to look to her work to remind me of what it means to be a photographer and the importance of photographing "the moments in-between".
