Cynthia Wilson was born in Abington, PA. Her love of photography has been with her since she received her first camera at the age of 10. Her first shots were mostly of family, friends and landscapes through the car window on family vacations to upstate New York, but it was that start that lead her to her current work.

She attended Beaver College (now Arcadia University), where she took her first Black and White Photography class with Judy Taylor. A split major in Communications between video and print and a minor in music took up most of her time, putting photography on hold until her senior year. Her hard work in the fall semester lead to a lab monitor position in the spring, allowing her to experiment in the darkroom.

Cynthia's first exhibition was in the library gallery of Beaver College, where she also worked during her college years. She combined short poems with her black and white work, which focused on landscapes and portraiture.

She pursued photography after graduation by working in the field at Larmon Photo in Doylestown, then expanding her knowledge and experience in lab work at New York Camera and Video. Alongside day-to-day work, she freelanced for the Time Publishing Group. Being around other photographers has been a great inspiration for Cynthia. In particular Ernie Dietz, Kathy Hierholzer, Lisa Mahler and Harvey Scherzer from Larmon and Karen Hassinger and Lauren Carbone from New York Camera have been her teachers in the working world.

These sources of inspiration lead Cynthia into cross processing slides, a process entailing the development slide film in C-41 chemistry (typically used for print film) instead of E-6 slide chemistry as directed. This process brings brighter, more saturated colors to her imagery.

Cynthia's love of coffee lead her to the Prufrock Cafe in Lambertville, New Jersey, where she held her second show, "Painting With The Camera." Shortly after the show ended a few pieces were hung at the Learning Studio in Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

After working in the lab, Cynthia decided to pursue the field from student eyes again. After taking a job at Temple University, she was able to enroll in another photography class, this time with professor Jeff McConnell. She was also given the opportunity to hold her third, self-titled show at Temple's Diamond Club, and was profiled in the Temple Times.

Cynthia then transferred jobs to Reed Smith LLP to gain experience in a different aspect of library science and then added to that with an internship at Temple University where she worked with the Urban Archives Photograph Collection. She had found a way to combine her love of photography and that of libraries. She then took a position to experience an art library and worked as the Senior Library Assistant at Moore College of Art & Design. To finish her Masters degree she accepted an internship at Washington State University and experienced the conservation practices there. She has completed her Master's degree in Library Science through a distance learning program with Clarion University. She now works as the Associate Manager of Support Services at PALINET, a nonprofit organization of libraries, and helps librarians in the region.

Cynthia is currently working on a book called "I am a Librarian!" (www.iamalibrarian.com). She hopes that one day it will be published and widely available in libraries and bookstores. In the meantime is happy allowing her work to touch as many people as possible.

Artists from other walks of life who have also been an influence include: Bob Dix, Maggie Hobson, Sean Jenkins, Sean McBride, Mark Silver and John Vettese. Check out the links section to see some of their work.