The Photography Collection

Below are sample works from The Photography Collection. These images were all taken with a Samsung Galaxy phone camera. Click on the title arrow to read more about each piece.

Up Close…

Rusting Sky

While rushing to my mosaics class off the Lungotevere Aventino and looking across the Tiber, I clipped an old rusting iron pole with my shoulder. I bounced off and thought for a second I had run into a person. Intrigued by the oxidation pattern, I grabbed a shot to ponder later after my class.

Upon Reflection

This image of an oxidized iron pole on a street that ran along the Tiber in Rome reminds me of a watery reflection. The river’s waterline never reached this pole, yet water had etched its message of omnipotence.

Satellite Souls

This color treatment of a tunnel spider web reminds me of the green and blue of our planet. The thin silk filaments of the web and the trapped tiny globes of debris can seem like satellites, or maybe even souls, soaring but still bound to earth.

Burial

One morning as I was walking up the Via Maggio in Florence I saw a funnel spider web filled with debris. I wondered if any prey were buried within. When inverted, the image appears as a shroud. The dead remain unknown.

Palantine Pine

Up on Palantine Hill, I found my true love. Tall, dark, and handsome, I found him standing quietly while everyone else milled about. I tried to strike up a conversation, but we ended up just looking out over the city below. All roads led to Rome.

Tomb

This funnel spider web was likely built within an hour. Spiders frequently rebuild their webs each day but the captured detritus seems to indicate it had been there a while when I found it hanging from a stone wall in Florence. A tomb untended.

Carpenter Bee

Carpenter bees are hungry little critters. They can boar perfect holes into wood and cause a lot of heartache for homeowners but they are great pollinators, so they do serve a good purpose.

Egyptian Locust

I was rushing to get to St. Mark’s English Church before Sunday services started when something caught my eye on the sidewalk. I looked closer only to realize death had claimed yet another innocent. We had just honored the death of Savonarola. Gaaaah. Would the madness never end?

Through a Glass 1

One day as I waited for a friend to join me for some dim sum, I took a few pictures of the glass of water in front of me. This section of the glass seems like a view of a golden sunrise through a window with some condensation.

Through a Glass 2

This close up of a glass of water was taken as I waited for a friend. She seemed to be running late so I texted her that I had arrived. She said she had too, but neither of us saw the other. Then I realized I was in the wrong restaurant. What were the odds that two dim sum restaurants were next to each other. It was a short walk to her table.

Blinded Blue

This image is a close up of the remnants of ivy suckers that had attached to a brick wall. The remaining detritus reminds me of lithographic lines.

Blinded Brown

The fibrous nature of ivy suckers show up well in this close up shot.

Ancient Locks

The house was built 600 years ago and the stairs were dangerously worn, but there was no money for and no desire to change what the centuries of climbers had wrought. Up four flights, a clanging of keys pulled from my pocket, at last I have reached my home in Rome. Now where was the lock?

…and otherwise…

To The Garden

This stairway leads to a rooftop garden in Playa Del Carmen where herbs grew wild in my friend Jennifer’s flower pots. One night, she used some of them to create a wonderful herbal shower for me.

As If

I found this chair in front of a small clothing shop in Rome. Perhaps the rope is a droll commentary on the intelligence of others.

Lunch with Cheech

Lunch can take a bit of time with a three year old. So much to explore, to experience. Sitting up, laying down, chomp, chomp, chomp.

Hoagie

Sweet Hoagie, a chocolate lab with the patience of a saint. She wouldn’t dream of stealing food, but her desires were known. Most obedient dog ever. Ryan and Kate did a great job training her.

Meatball

Meatball knew eight tricks by the time she was nine weeks old. The most attentive, empathic dog I’ve ever had. Once, she broke out of her crate to come and wake me from a nightmare in which I had been crying. Here she’s giving me a high five.

Anywhere Safer

The betrayal floated swirling on the surface of her conscience. Then her brain would fizz with fury, intrusive thoughts pockmarking the protective layers of denial that helped her skim through the days, the cortisol surges giving her the sensation of speeding, her feet barely touching the ground until she was back home, back in her bath, back in her body. Was anywhere safer?

Edinburgh Sidewalk Grate

The Fringe was surreal. Large penises waved flyers, yelling at us to come see their show and people streamed in and out of The Elephant House as I made my way to dinner at Angels and Bagpipes. It’s a wonder I noticed this grate on the sidewalk at all, let alone was able to get a shot of it.

Soffitti di Scuola del Cuoio

My husband Don studied leatherwork at the world renowned Scuola del Cuoio in Florence. Each day we’d meet in the garden for lunch. I loved the portal entrance where dried herbs hung from the ceiling and their scent wafted through the breezeway. This image, rotated upside down, reminds me of a wild meadow.

Hanging Herbs

The hues of antiquities hang here in this collection of herbs, scenting the passageway, woody and sweet.

Spare Parts

These stones sit in an alcove of an ancient church, their stories forever unknown to me.

Layers

This mannequin stood in a corner of the studio where I studied sculpture in Florence. I grabbed this picture one day, loving how the angle captured a sketch in blue and the reflection of a nearby skeleton. Later I pondered the process of layering and unlayering in life.

Soffitti di Notte

The evening light from the neighborhood slowly swims across my ceiling. I capture this image before drifting off to the sounds of diners chatting and children playing on the street below.

Jekyll

This character has been hanging around my pond for at least a year now. He calls for mates each night in spring and summer, a ridiculous lusty sound that makes me laugh. He’s clearly proud of his bachelor pad and seems well fed. Who knows. This may be his lucky year.

Hyde

One night I startled a bullfrog and he jumped into our pond. I was able to capture a series of shots as he swam and hid. In this image, he’s perfectly camouflaged. I watched anxiously as several fish swam by. I wondered if he were afraid to give away his spot or if they just weren’t tempting to him.