Debra Achen
When I take my camera to a beautiful natural setting or city street scene, my eye often wanders to some small element or pattern within the bigger picture. I am attracted to the underlying structure of things, to the design and materials, and to the way the forces of nature – Earth, Air, Fire, Water, Gravity, Light, and Time – imprint the material world with their magic. As a photographer I am intrigued by the way manmade structures connect and divide space. They are bridges, barriers, and boundaries, containing and retaining, internal / external edges. I experiment with these concepts in my images through framing, focus, and depth of field, often creating a tension between foreground and background. Some of my images border on the abstract. By “extracting, isolating, or separating out” a certain element of a subject, it becomes simplified to components of visual form. The intent is to capture the more fundamental or innate essence of material objects, often the natural Elements themselves. As I continue to live and grow, my view of the world is constantly changing. It is important to have awareness of these changes and share my new and evolving perspectives through my work.
