Can you tell us about the first photograph you took that ultimately inspired your SCAPES series?
 

The first images are vividly ingrained in my memories that sparked the series, since they were all kicked off with a “mistake."

It was 2008, and I was in Italy with my then 3 year old son Oscar, and my 8 year olddaughter, Olivia and my husband, John. It was a during a vicious heat wave, where the wind was naught and the mosquitoes were ferocious. 

For this reason, we ended up spending a lot of time in our air conditioned mini van, since the house we rented was old, and didn’t even have screens on the windows. 

It was out of the magical minivan window that my first Scapes were born, seeing the stunning Italian countryside and vivid green crops along the highway. 

I pointed my camera, mistakenly not realizing my shutter speed was set very slow…. So the colors swooshed past and became washes of painterly brush strokes, rather than in focus landscape “portraits."

What initially drew you to fine art photography after spending years working alongside major fashion photographers and in editorial environments like Rolling Stone and Sports Illustrated?

I was initially drawn to go out on my own as a fine art photographer after my daughter was born. She became my muse, and the face of my portrait photography business. 

I then worked part time for a commercial photographer as his assistant to learn the technical side, since the creative side had always been in me since I was a little girl. 

Once I was able to learn the rules, I was free to break them, and always having my camera on me allowed me to not think about the technical side so that I could let go and be free. 

Are there photographers or artists who have significantly influenced your style or way of seeing, either early on or today?

The artists that have significantly influenced me are Sally Mann, Keith Carter, Gordon Parks and Diane Arbus. They all have one thing in common… The subject is at ease, and when you look at one of their photos, you feel like a fly on the wall as a voyeur. 

Your SCAPES have such a distinctive sense of movement and atmosphere. Can you walk us through your creative process? 

It’s difficult to describe my creative process with my SCAPES series since it’s almost out of body each and every time. 

I’m almost always on vacation with my family, and it’s always a crap shoot as to whether it will translate. 

That being said, I have learned that amazing light, bold colors in nature and (often but not always) a bold horizon line equate to a great SCAPE. 

It’s been scientifically proven that humans are calmed by a straight horizon line, and conversely, it’s unsettling when it isn’t. 

What’s amazing is that I can make the same photo at the edge of the sea but the changing light makes each one look and feel completely different. 

This series means a lot to me as it’s been received as meditative and tranquil, which is exactly how I feel when I’m making them and hope the viewer feels as well in the end.