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Light painting


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POSTED: Monday, January 05, 2009

Photography is an art dependent on light. The photographer uses light to paint images on a canvas of film (or pixels, in the digital realm) and paper. Photographers sometimes take it a step further, painting on prints to add color and mood.

Artist Mary Goodrich uses this method in many of her works, a selection of which is shown here. She began taking photographs in 1970, working in color. Later, she began exploring black-and-white as well as infrared film. “;I like black-and-white infrared film in the way it records unusual tonalities and an unexpected ambience,”; she says in her artist's statement.

Goodrich has embraced the art of hand-coloring black-and-white prints, which she says takes several hours to complete. “;I use both oils and color pencils and reproduce the hand-colored images as giclee prints,”; she writes.

Living in Volcano on the Big Island, Goodrich writes that she often doesn't have to travel far to capture images. “;I always look for sensual lines, unusual lighting conditions, and pleasing shapes in hillsides, trees and plants. In photographing the figure, I see how the shape of the body echoes that of environmental forms.”;

More of Goodrich's art can be seen at her Web site, www.marygoodrich.com.