This is the right page...if you are interested in how I work, how I take or create my images and what equipment I use.

Biography

A decade ago, I began pursuing this wonderfully expressive medium of photography at a higher, more professional level, working to understand both the craft and the creativity. My images have frequently won ribbons and prizes in juried competitions. I have had three two-person shows (with my husband, Gus, who is also a photographer) and one major solo show, as well as being featured artist at several small venues. In 2006, one of my images was published in Camera Arts Magazine and four images were selected for "Art Buzz, The 2008 Collection", published by the nonprofit arts organization, Art Buzz. I am pleased to have won their Abstract Photography category. I write "filler" travel articles for The Petaluma Post. Photographs by Gus and myself accompany those articles.

Images & Interpretations

While I do exhibit regular photographs, my main creative focus is on developing new works based on my photographs. From the dual interest in photography and photographic art has come the name of my site and of my business: Images & Interpretations.

Interpretive Works

In the process of creating interpretive works, the original photographic images become like the clay a sculptor molds or pigments a painter uses--they are the medium from which I create the final images. Montage and composite techniques and various other means of altering the original are used to achieve the intended result which often no longer resembles photography.

Exploring Abstracts

Interested in abstracts, I have explored various means of abstracting reality into works where form, color, and texture become the subject. In some cases, an image may have a dual viewing level--the viewer can simultaneously identify something of the initial photograph while also seeing an abstract interpretation that evolved from it. The Ode to Abstraction Series, for example, is entirely created from a single landscape image, and, if you look closely, you can detect something of that original landscape, including crop rows.

Concepts as a Strategy in Creativity

Frequently my work is concept-based, such as in the single image, Pink, a symbolic work which is a visual essay on aspects of womanhood. In pursuit of a concept, a series of images may evolve, each expressing the concept differently. Ode to Abstraction explores various means of abstracting a single subject in multiple ways; the Perpetual Motion Series seeks to depict motion that carries throughout and beyond the image, and the Global Warming Series intends to provoke thought about the consequences of not properly caring for the planet.

Three Kinds of Works on View

For regular photography, see the individual galleries under Gallery I: Photographic Images. For interpretive images, see the galleries under Gallery II: Photographic Art. Under Gallery III: Series & Sets, you will find images that were developed together based on a common concept. The Image Sets group is small and is composed of multiple images that are framed together and intended to be viewed as a single work.

Negatives, Slides & Digital Images

Some images on this site began life as print negatives, some as slides, and some, more recently, as digitally-captured images. Except for the oldest of my images, photographs were taken with a Canon EOS 1N film camera or with an EOS D5 or D10 digital camera. You have my guarantee that all original photographs were taken by me and all artistic interpretations were done by me, as were all preparations for printing for those images produced as prints. Whether prints are created in-house or in an outside lab is determined primarily by the size of the image. Not all images in these galleries are available as prints. However, if you see something which interests you, please contact me: sharon@images-and-interpretations.com.

Thanks for visiting the Images & Interpretations site. I hope you find the viewing interesting and perhaps even thought-provoking.

Sharon Feissel