My Lens
For as long as I can remember, I've had a creative outlet. In high school and college studio art courses I studied life drawing in all its forms--from still lives of fruit to insects to nudes. Examining the details of a figure and learning about light and shadow, perspective and foreshortening shaped how I observe the details. Painting courses taught me about the nuance of color, contrast and helped develop my sense of composition and how I see things.
As a poetry writing major in college, my imagination was stirred by the literary imagery of poets like Emerson, Frost, Whitman and Aldrich. Their words conjured up impressions of nature that were as evocative and indelible as a photograph itself. Language like "The chestnut leaves, wide open like a hand" and "We knew it would rain, for the poplars showed the white of their leaves" allowed me to "see" the natural world through the written word.
My career in advertising exposed me to a creative world and a broad spectrum of talented photographers, many of whom inspired me as well. I was amazed by what they could capture on high speed film -- how they could transform a drop of milk or an undulating cube of gelatin with lighting and a lens. I began to dabble with my own photography and was propelled by the few good shots I considered "happy accidents."
Over the years, our family has spent precious time in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It is there that the incredible environment further ignited my interest in photography. The beauty around us in the mountains and lakes captured my imagination and inspired me. There have been times when I've aimed my lens at one thing, only to zoom in and discover quite something else: dew captured in the curl of a flower petal or a cloud reflected in a water droplet. These are the surprises that keep me searching for the details, the reflections, the light and the vivid colors that we only see when we take a closer, longer, more deliberate look at the beautiful world around us.
After earning my masters degree in psychological counseling at Teachers College, Columbia, I began my work as a psychotherapist. Psychology is essentially about perspective and how our experience of the world is shaped by our mindset, context, worldview and identity. A small change in perspective can be transformational, and in this way, for me, psychology and photography intersect. Said another way, "when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."
Lately, my photography is concerned mostly with exploring images from the world around me, reimagining them in an unexpected way, and enticing the viewer into a new perspective. I hope you enjoy my work as much as I enjoy creating it.
As a poetry writing major in college, my imagination was stirred by the literary imagery of poets like Emerson, Frost, Whitman and Aldrich. Their words conjured up impressions of nature that were as evocative and indelible as a photograph itself. Language like "The chestnut leaves, wide open like a hand" and "We knew it would rain, for the poplars showed the white of their leaves" allowed me to "see" the natural world through the written word.
My career in advertising exposed me to a creative world and a broad spectrum of talented photographers, many of whom inspired me as well. I was amazed by what they could capture on high speed film -- how they could transform a drop of milk or an undulating cube of gelatin with lighting and a lens. I began to dabble with my own photography and was propelled by the few good shots I considered "happy accidents."
Over the years, our family has spent precious time in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. It is there that the incredible environment further ignited my interest in photography. The beauty around us in the mountains and lakes captured my imagination and inspired me. There have been times when I've aimed my lens at one thing, only to zoom in and discover quite something else: dew captured in the curl of a flower petal or a cloud reflected in a water droplet. These are the surprises that keep me searching for the details, the reflections, the light and the vivid colors that we only see when we take a closer, longer, more deliberate look at the beautiful world around us.
After earning my masters degree in psychological counseling at Teachers College, Columbia, I began my work as a psychotherapist. Psychology is essentially about perspective and how our experience of the world is shaped by our mindset, context, worldview and identity. A small change in perspective can be transformational, and in this way, for me, psychology and photography intersect. Said another way, "when you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change."
Lately, my photography is concerned mostly with exploring images from the world around me, reimagining them in an unexpected way, and enticing the viewer into a new perspective. I hope you enjoy my work as much as I enjoy creating it.
