Myopia

Lakewood Memorial Library Heritage Room
12 West Summit Street, Lakewood, New York
April 1-30, 2014
Opening Reception Thursday, April 3, 5-7pm

My First Glasses

When I was in fourth grade the school nurse sent home a note suggesting that I should be taken to the eye doctor.  Once my mother got over the fact that her “perfect daughter” might have imperfect eyes, she took me and sure enough, I needed glasses. 

Having worked in a school office that had a drawer full of lost eyeglasses, my mother was concerned that I, too, might lose mine.  When we went to pick them up, she asked the eye doctor how she could ensure that I would wear the glasses and not lose them.  He answered with confidence, “She’ll wear them.”

On the way home from the eye doctor’s office, it brought tears to my mother’s eyes when I said, “I didn't know you could see the leaves on trees.  I didn't know you could see a person’s face from across the street.”

Myopia and My Photography

To this day, the last thing I do before going to bed is remove my glasses; the first thing I do upon rising is put them back on.  So fiercely near-sighted am I that I cannot see the clock on the nightstand without either bringing it within six inches of my face, or putting on my glasses.

This myopia is behind the way I work photographically.  I don’t like working with long lenses, trying to get that faraway bird or butterfly into the frame.  I like being close to my subject – as close as I would need to be if I lost my glasses.  Many of my images exhibit a very shallow depth of field because that is the way I see the world with glasses off – only a tiny bit in focus, the rest a blur.

My Camera & Lens

A good deal of the shots for this collection were taken with a Canon DSLR using an 18-55mm lens with a 10X magnifier.


From the Opening Reception:

Selected Images

From the Forest.  Click to enlarge.

The Seasons.  Click to enlarge.

Book Available at blurb.com