Diane Emerson

Artist Statement

I photograph my subjects in natural light, using deflectors, reflectors and diffusers on a north facing porch. I am inspired by the painters of the Dutch Golden Age and how they captured nature in its glorious beauty and faded glory. I use a Canon Rebel, a 35mm Macro lens and a tripod. Photoshop Elements is my processing program of choice. I keep things simple, while I am creating and enhancing the light and shadow in my compositions. My images are cropped, sharpened and make use of the dodge and burn tools. I like to include flowers, things handed down from my family and items I've collected over the years. Friends often give me things they think I would like to photograph. I use a Samsung cell phone from time to time. With the right light and distance from the subject, I can get a perspective that isn't possible with an SLR. Snapseed and Elements Photoshop are used to process my cell phone images. It's kind of funny that I used to work from my photographs as a pen and ink artist and now my photographs are my work.