Victoria Ruderman

Artist Statement

Victoria Ruderman's Artist Statement

Art has always been a part of my life. It is how I choose to express it that has changed. In my twenties I began to oil paint. It was not until I met my husband that I was introduced to photography. He shared with me his love for photography and how to see the world through a lens. For many years I was his 'go-fer' (assistant). In 1992 my husband and I went on a photographic trip down the Colorado River. The leader, gifted photographer Dewitt Jones, insisted that everyone was to bring his or her own camera. It was that experience and my eagerness to learn that moved me from standing beside the tripod to behind the camera.

Later, that same photographer introduced me to the SX-70 Polaroid manipulation technique. It took just one exposure to this new and exciting art form for me to realize that I could take what is ordinary and make it unique. The Polaroid film allows me to capture what is real in that moment. But it is the manipulation of the emulsion that gives me the freedom to reveal the emotion that I feel in each image. Just as a kaleidoscope can change with the slightest tilt of the hand so too can the emulsion be altered by slight physical manipulations which changes the image into a form that some have compared to impressionistic art.

I find that I am drawn to the beauty of the ordinary. I like my photographs to capture quiet everyday moments. I marvel how subtle shadows and vibrant colors can give a sense of motion to an image.

Formerly a painter, I found that hand coloring of manipulated Polaroid images with pastels combined my love of photography and the free expression of painting. It always pleases me how each image turns out to be unique and 'one-of-a-kind' even when the starting point is the same.

Currently, I am working on a series of 'Flower Reflections' created in the darkroom. Once again the enlarged Archival Pigment Prints are then hand colored with artist pastels. No two prints are ever quite the same.

I also enjoy black and white photography for how it expresses the essence of the subject.