Like many avid photographers, Lovena West of Mars Hill can spend hours capturing the open scenery and vast wildlife of Aroostook County, from vivid sunsets to the deer that often roam in grassy fields.
But for West, photography has meant much more than simply sharing beautiful images or learning the ins and outs of camera equipment. Photography has, quite literally, given her a new vision through which to see the world.
In August 2011, West suffered a mini stroke that temporarily left her with peripheral vision. Within five to six weeks, her vision returned, and she began to notice small details about nature that she had previously taken for granted.
“For the first time, I started noticing things I had never noticed before,” West said, as snow flurries fell outside her home on a recent winter afternoon. “Color became so vibrant. While watching a sunset or sunrise, my eyes would water from seeing the beauty of all the colors.”
As West’s eyes re-awakened to her surroundings, she felt inspired to do more than just watch.
“I wanted to take pictures of everything I saw. Scenery or trees or barns I had driven by all my life started to look like paintings to me,” she said. “As bad as I felt when I had the stroke, it changed me. It opened my eyes to what’s out there and what really matters.”
That Christmas, West’s family gave her her first camera, and she has been hooked on photography ever since. She enrolled in an adult education class to learn how to best shoot photos and soon began taking pictures every day. As time went on, she learned not to focus so much on how many photos she shot but on the feelings that most inspired her to capture a moment.
West has taken thousands of photos over the years, is now on her third camera and regularly shares her work on her Facebook pages “Just Looking Around” and “Lovena’s Lens.” Most of her photographs are images of scenery and wildlife in areas between Mars Hill, Presque Isle and Caribou. She has also spent countless hours in the North Maine Woods and has taken numerous photos of Amish barn raisings in the nearby towns of Fort Fairfield and Easton.
Being a photographer has motivated West to slow down and appreciate the beauty that is around her, even in moments when she might have felt more hurried before.
“If I have a doctor’s appointment, I’ll leave an hour and a half or two hours early because I never know what I’m going to see,” West said. “I’ve been late coming home at night because I’ve stopped to take pictures and just had to stay.”
West even has a wildlife photography “bucket list” that includes bobcats, weasels, otters and “anything that walks, crawls, flies or slithers.” Her patience paid off one evening while sitting on a hill near the Presque Isle water tower, taking photos of the setting sun.
“When I focused my camera, a deer walked into the frame and I got 10 shots before it ran off,” West said. “That’s probably my favorite moment.”
West and her husband Terry have two daughters and three grandchildren, all of whom live nearby in central Aroostook County. Her six-year-old granddaughter Polly received her own camera as a Christmas present and will soon be following her grandmother on photography-related adventures.
As West shares her love of photography with her grandchildren, she hopes that perhaps they, too, will stop long enough to gaze at the world around them with wide-eyed curiosity.
“You never know where their roads will take them, but if they notice the small things, they should have a good outlook on life,” West said.
