The satire half of a photography project mocking social media’s obsession with staged, unrealistic self-images — an over-the-top series (ball gown, jewelry, filters) that unexpectedly blurred the line between staged and real as the author actually performed each absurd scene.
The documentary half of a photography project — a black-and-white series showing the author’s ordinary day (grocery lists, meditation, playing with her dog) and reflecting on how a freely self-directed life is less normal, and less boring, than it seems.
A short observation on flat, smooth sand at Half Moon Bay whose color variation creates the illusion of ridges, captured by the author as a reminder that what we see is not always reality.
A lighthearted note on a collection of small objects found in a son’s pockets on laundry day in 2013, which the author found visually fun and full of curiosity.
A photograph capturing the artist’s shadow dancing during a music video for the song “Validation,” used to illustrate the concept of the shadow self, the alter ego, with the less confident real self performing as the shadow of the confident songstress.
A brief description of an altered photograph studying a rooftop fire seen at a hotel in San Diego — an artistic exploration of what it is about fire that captures and holds the eye.
A brief description of a photographic art study of an old tree stump — drawn to its pronounced rings and cracks as themes running through the years of the tree’s life, and the emptiness at the center marking its birth.
An art photograph of a candlelit statue casting the shadow of a couple on the wall behind it, presented as a study in how outward appearances make it impossible to tell whether a relationship is happy, struggling, or in conflict.
A candid photograph of the author’s friend Paul, well known among guitarists, intended to capture the loneliness of a gifted person surrounded by others and the unpretentious personal space of a great mind.
A vacation close-up photograph contrasting the sharpness of cactus and metal with the softness of a clay pot and flame, capturing a moment of balance the artist wanted to carry with her.
A short reflection accompanying a close-up rose artwork, where the artist examines her instinctive rejection of the color pink as tied to a wounded aspect of femininity, and considers meeting that part of herself with compassion.