I was born and raised and lived much of my adult life in New York City. Now I live in a rural village in Columbia County, a few hours north of the city. Country life has been a major change for me. I really miss the life of the city and being able to walk or use public transportation to get where I need to go. And my dreams of gardening and keeping house were just that -- dreams. Not nearly as fun for me in real life. I live with my husband, two adolescent/teenage daughters, and two cats. We homeschooled until recently, but now the girls are in public school.
I'm a self-taught photographer. My parents have always loved photography and have been inspirations, but I only discovered my love of the art after I left the city, and I think that my move has a lot to do with my inspiration. In my photography, I try to reflect the beauty that was so apparent to me when I first moved here.
I also enjoy how in photographs you think you are seeing the truth, but very often the photographer has composed the shot in such a way that actually changes the reality. Dust and dirt disappear through shallow depth of field. Disturbing backgrounds disappear through perspective. You see a beautiful landscape, when in reality you would have trouble avoiding the junkyard in which you are standing. And that's all before Photoshop. Not that I think all photos need to be pretty and happy. One can use these same techniques to show all the emotions and to show the beauty in the mundane and rejected and the darker sides of life.
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