BARBARA L BRUNDAGE
Location:
Soquel, CA, USA
ARTIST BIO
Barbara Brundage has always been an artist, winning her first art prize for a drawing when she was 7. ($1.00) She earned an MFA from Pratt Institute, in NYC, majoring in Art to Wear Jewelry Design. Her jewelry was featured in many national and international exhibitions and galleries. But she has always taken photographs. She switched to photography as her main medium about 12 years ago. Barbara’s photos have been published in a book on Yosemite and featured on several travel websites. She enjoys exhibiting and has been juried into many shows in the past few years. Barbara was awarded a $1000 Grand Prize in one International Photography exhibition, and a $500 First Place in another, as well as 2 $100 First Places in local exhibitions. She has had a few solo shows, one in England. Her flower images are well received and sell very well.
Barbara has returned to traveling, spending 2 months in Paris the first year after Covid, and 2 months in Italy the next. This spring she spent almost 3 months in Japan, Hokkaido, and Taiwan. Barbara is very much into her flower photography, working several sessions each week. She is obsessed with the submerged series and still thrilled each time she gets something she loves.
ARTIST STATEMENT
When Covid first hit, I had to abandon travel plans to photograph the world at large. Instead, I turned inward, focused smaller, and started shooting flowers. I experimented a lot, eventually photographing flowers underwater, in an aquarium. I inject inks and paints to swirl around the flowers. There is a 1 to 2 minute window where I can get a clear shot before the water becomes too murky. This makes for a quick, tense, energetic shooting session. I use a strobe flash to freeze the movement of the pigment. I consider the tank of water as my canvas, the flower is the subject, and where I inject the colors and with how much energy determines the composition and result. I am looking for a pleasing interaction between the light, the paints and the flowers. Sometimes I get nothing, and sometimes I get magic! I call this series, Submerged.
