Trish Nedry Images

Biography

I grew up in the coastal cities of California, which provided me an incredibly varied lifestyle. From an early age I knew that some aspect of the artistic life would be my calling – I just couldn’t decide whether it would be in the visual arts or the written word. I was the kid with the Kodak Instamatic camera documenting everything my friends and I did, and at the same time I wrote short stories and travel logs of my life. I received my B.A. in English Literature from the University of California at Santa Barbara and pursued writing, in one form or another, for many years. In 1969 I bought my first SLR, a Nikon Nikkormat, and began my forty-year pursuit of capturing life and the world around me on photographic paper. I continued to write, but over the ensuing decades the visual arts have dominated my artistic expression, mostly through photography but in painting and fiber arts as well.

Although I have taken numerous art and photography classes over the years, I would say I am mostly a self-taught artist relying on my innate sense of my relationship to the world around me. I use a variety of Nikon cameras and lenses in my photography.

Artist’s Statement

I believe a photograph evokes a visceral reaction that words can’t and connects the artist to the viewer directly. Whether the subject of the picture is mundane or an observation of something profound, it is a recognition and appreciation of man’s connectedness to his world interpreted by the photographer but not imagined by him.

Unlike a picture painted by an artist, a photograph is a “mechanically” derived capture of a moment-in-time; even today’s digital photographs are derived through the use of electronics rather than created with manual skills. There is an expectation of truth from a photo – the creation of a visual time capsule that one can view and then return to again and again.

The computer, however, has expanded what can be done with photographs, and the emergence of the enhanced photograph is blurring the line between picture-taking and picture-making – to the chagrin of some and the delight of others, such as myself, who revel in the possibilities.

In my own photographs, I am striving to trap a single moment (or through a series, related moments) of an event, a particular expression, an unique fall of light, an organic geometry, or a chromatic impression. In my enhanced photographs I am exploring that blurring between picture-taking and picture-making while still paying homage to the photographic inception.

The work of the Depression Era Farm Security Administration photographers, and those of Margaret Bourke-White and Imogen Cunningham all have deeply influenced my perception of photography. Today’s animated films, commercial advertisements, and emerging digital artists are influencing where I’ll take my art.

I invite the viewer not to see just a pretty or interesting picture, but rather to discover some aspect that speaks to him or her and to wonder if the two of us shared the same vision.

Ms. Nedry’s work can also be seen at Austin Art Space Galley  in Austin, Texas.

7739 Northcross Drive Austin, Texas       512.771.2868

www.austinartspace.com