Maude's Incredible Journey
Maude Metcalf was born in Mankato, Minnesota and is the eleventh child in a family of fourteen siblings. Growing up in a small community surrounded by woods and water, she was enveloped by nature. Living in such a natural environment, she developed a unique and creative side which has ultimately influenced her journey to where she is today.
Maude was raised with an old-fashioned mindset which her family taught and embraced. It was one where each was expected to leave fanciful thoughts of creativity behind and work, work, work. Maude always felt this was not who she was as a person and her idealistic side questioned everything.
"It was as if their beauty was calling to me! I didn't want to sleep; I just wanted to capture moments in time of these flowers' beauty that would remain endless, and share them with the world!"
When Maude turned 25, she made a drastic decision which would shake her foundation to her core and irrevocably alter her future. Based on her own values and passion for life, she resigned from her factory job of 7 ½ years and took a one year hiatus to decide her next move. Eagerly, Maude used this precious time to still her thoughts through meditation and communing with God and nature. It immediately became clear to her that spending her life and her creativity in a stark factory where such things wither would be detrimental if she was ever to realize her dreams and live passionately.
As a result, she rejected many of her fears in expressing her creative talents and auditioned for a part in a local theatre play and was immediately taken with acting. Although she found a new path, she dealt with much guilt for not conforming to the stronghold of spiritually limiting values her family accepted and expected her to embrace. Much to the dismay of her family, she left home in 1987 to begin her own life and live on her own terms. Maude lived in several states where she gained further maturity, self-confidence and courage.
While living in California Maude received a wakeup call by way of a near death experience. This event in her life was such that she willfully discarded any further limiting notions and decided she wanted to live; it was then that she valiantly embraced life to its fullest and has never looked back. Maude's life since then has been an evolving portrait of meaningful, synchronistic events and continuous personal growth. Maude still loved acting and comedy and, to advance her already blossoming talents, she moved to Chicago to attend Second City Training Center, the largest performance arts school of improvisation and sketch comedy in the world.
"How can one not express the love of God when another is so moved? This is so much bigger than me! I said yes to my new passion. How could I not do this?"
After 19 years on her own, in April, 2006 Maude was finally able to put roots down in Chicago. By this time, she had lived in several states; she experienced several life-altering events, worked for other people's companies, and had even been homeless at one point. Regardless of adversity, Maude's iron-willed drive to succeed kept her focused on the future and she persistently moved forward.
In a moment of admiration, Maude was inclined to capture the exquisite interior world of flowers. She located a beautiful bed of bright red tulips and brought one home to witness its bloom the following morning during her daily meditation. As its petals released, she discovered an astonishing vibrant blue inside. Wanting to remember this moment, Maude captured its beautiful brilliance with her 1.3 mega pixel digital video camera.
Upon having the photographs developed, she realized that the tulip's vibrancy was truly breathtaking. Her wonder in this natural splendor led her on an exciting new journey to explore and capture the intimate beauty of many other floral images. She was soon excited to learn that everyone who viewed her work was as captivated as she. Maude's deep connection to the Divine led her to follow her inner voice of which these unique perspectives of nature were born. She felt an innate alignment with her calling in life and has dedicated herself to photography ever since.
"These feelings I have are so incredibly fabulous! And with my every breath, to be filled with the miracle of such life, this is truly living passionately."
And from that moment, Maude was compelled to photograph more flowers; she felt she couldn't get to them fast enough. She has stated, "It was as if their beauty was calling to me! I didn't want to sleep; I just wanted to capture moments in time of these flowers' beauty that would remain endless, and share them with the world!"
Maude began building her business through selling her photographs, creating fine art cards and taking photographs of flowers of special occasions. Her work has appeared in several art galleries and she was interviewed on Hallmark Channel's "New Morning" show. People have literally been stirred to tears when viewing her inspirational photographs.
Maude has finally achieved her dreams and, in that recognition, she stated, "These feelings I have are so incredibly fabulous! And with my every breath, to be filled with the miracle of such life, this is truly living passionately."
"In life and wilting death I have captured the inner beauty
of the Flower. Her grace and elegance so exquisite the eye
wonders, the heart opens, the beauty penetrates your
being and draws you in, into your self, for you are
the flower-magnificent, glorious and beautiful, in
life, and in death. "
~ Maude Metcalf
Contact Maude to book your event so that she may also create memorable photos or fine art for you!