It is with great pleasure that I introduce this new feature on photography. With Light as this issue’s theme, it’s the perfect occasion to inaugurate a column dedicated to the medium. The root of the word photography is photo, meaning “light,” and graphy, meaning “drawing.” There is more than one way to understand the camera as a tool for art and my aim with this column is to share work from photographers making full use of this language.
This inaugural feature includes work by Fran Vita-Taylor. In each of her composed images, Vita-Taylor uses a personal iconography that comes together to evoke a precise sensation. While we may not know the history of the feeling, we do sense that it is genuine and powerful. That’s about the best we can do.
Both Fran and myself favor William Henry Fox Talbot’s lessons. Talbot made drawings using a camera lucida, a prismatic device attached to a drawing board that guided the hand to replicate what he was looking at. Therefore, it wasn’t too far a stretch for him to think: “Gee if only this could be permanent!” This history of using a lens, or a lens-based item, to draw has been researched by the brilliant David Hockney, and I recommend you explore his findings for yourself.
I am delighted to introduce you to Vita-Taylor’s fine photographs.
—Rose Marasco, Maine Arts Journal Photography Editor
Fran Vita-Taylor, Beauty of What Remains 14, archival digital print, 12 x 18 in.
Fran Vita-Taylor, Beauty of What Remains 5, archival digital print, 12 x 18 in.
Fran Vita-Taylor, Beauty of What Remains 13, archival digital print, 12 x 18 in.
Fran Vita-Taylor, Leaving 3, archival digital print, 12 x 18 in.
Fran Vita-Taylor, Beauty of What Remains 17, archival digital print, 6.7 x 10 in.
Vita-Taylor makes still life photos that are not still. The movement in them is intentional and metaphoric. Just as a painter may select a large brush for a good swash, Vita-Taylor’s choice of f-stop—which determines the focus range within the photo—as well as her choice of the actual distance from the lens to the subject matter, results in both softness and clarity within her photographs. Therefore, both her intentions and her methods contribute to the work you see here. These are carefully planned photos with some last-minute surprises and choices as well. We all learn much from our process of making and looking. Lucky us, I say.
Full view of the image at top: Fran Vita-Taylor, Beauty of What Remains 21, archival digital print, 12 x 18 in.