Socorro Photographer pushes technical limits for new art form
<center><img src="http://steppinoutnewmexico.com/images/Daisy_Joanne_Schmidt.jpg" border=1><br><b>Daisy is a fine example of<br>Schmidt's high-dynamic range imagery</b></center>
<img src=http://steppinoutnewmexico.com/images/Water_Joanne_Schmidt.jpg align=right border=1 hspace=5>Socorro – Manzanares Street Coffeehouse will feature the work of Joanne Schmidt during October and November.
Joanne Schmidt took her first photographs as a child using a Kodak Brownie camera. For most of her life, photography was her hobby, often neglected for life’s requirements. Joanne’s first education was in performing arts, her second in engineering and math. A career in the computer field occupied 20 years of her life. Returning to her artistic roots in 2003, she focuses exclusively on still photography and video documentary.
Although Joanne still enjoys traditional style photography of people, animals, and architecture, her recent focus is HDR, ‘High Dynamic Range’. Using new digital HDR techniques, a photographer extends the camera’s capabilities to create an image more closely resembling what the human eye sees. Joanne believes the present to be an exciting time of opportunity. She avidly pursues experimentation with evolving digital darkroom software and image capture devices.
The Manzanares exhibit features recent HDR work. One set of images showcases street shooting. These express modern life with its complexity, chaos, clutter, competition, extremes, and confusion. Traditional rules are bent and broken but each with a purpose. Reflections and “looking through” are two common visual themes. Not surprising, the artist draws inspiration from Abbott’s ‘Flatland’, Carroll’s ‘Through the Looking Glass’, and the work of M.C. Escher. Additionally, the Manzanares exhibit includes HDR architectural images of Albuquerque’s historic Rail yard, a favorite site for photographers and movie production companies.
“Sometimes, in street shooting or event shooting, things move fast with incoming from many directions. Sometimes time stops and the camera becomes an eye for mind and heart. When this happens, the results are often surprisingly interesting. The images need no darkroom work. They go beyond studied composition to convey a meta-dance of life. For me, these moments transform photography from documentary, to experiential art. This experience is what I want to share with a viewer,” she says.
<center><img src="http://steppinoutnewmexico.com/images/Daisy_Joanne_Schmidt.jpg" border=1><br><b>Daisy is a fine example of<br>Schmidt's high-dynamic range imagery</b></center>
<img src=http://steppinoutnewmexico.com/images/Water_Joanne_Schmidt.jpg align=right border=1 hspace=5>Socorro – Manzanares Street Coffeehouse will feature the work of Joanne Schmidt during October and November.
Joanne Schmidt took her first photographs as a child using a Kodak Brownie camera. For most of her life, photography was her hobby, often neglected for life’s requirements. Joanne’s first education was in performing arts, her second in engineering and math. A career in the computer field occupied 20 years of her life. Returning to her artistic roots in 2003, she focuses exclusively on still photography and video documentary.
Although Joanne still enjoys traditional style photography of people, animals, and architecture, her recent focus is HDR, ‘High Dynamic Range’. Using new digital HDR techniques, a photographer extends the camera’s capabilities to create an image more closely resembling what the human eye sees. Joanne believes the present to be an exciting time of opportunity. She avidly pursues experimentation with evolving digital darkroom software and image capture devices.
The Manzanares exhibit features recent HDR work. One set of images showcases street shooting. These express modern life with its complexity, chaos, clutter, competition, extremes, and confusion. Traditional rules are bent and broken but each with a purpose. Reflections and “looking through” are two common visual themes. Not surprising, the artist draws inspiration from Abbott’s ‘Flatland’, Carroll’s ‘Through the Looking Glass’, and the work of M.C. Escher. Additionally, the Manzanares exhibit includes HDR architectural images of Albuquerque’s historic Rail yard, a favorite site for photographers and movie production companies.
“Sometimes, in street shooting or event shooting, things move fast with incoming from many directions. Sometimes time stops and the camera becomes an eye for mind and heart. When this happens, the results are often surprisingly interesting. The images need no darkroom work. They go beyond studied composition to convey a meta-dance of life. For me, these moments transform photography from documentary, to experiential art. This experience is what I want to share with a viewer,” she says.