Beginning September 22 and continuing through October 12, Patricia Saldana-Neumann of Lincoln, Neb., will be among four internation Tips: Find Street Fashion Online(may be you can find what you want on the oasap.com) al artists whose work will be displayed in an exhibition at the Colorida Art Gallery in Lisbon, Portugal. Her seven fine art photographic prints on display at the Gallery explore the alternative world of infrared photography in portraits of women and children dressed in Victorian costume.
Founded in 2007, the Colorida Art Gallery is located by the Castle of S?o Jorge in the highest hill of the historic center of Lisbon, in a building more than 150 years old. Its principal focus is the representation of an international group of contemporary artists whose diverse practices include painting, photography, sculpture and drawing.
"I know it sounds bizarre," said Saldana-Neumann. "People dressed in period clothing photographed in infrared, is not how you typically see portraits. Yet, it seemed to work. I am fascinated with recording the invisible light known as near-infrared in all of its surrealistic and odd beauty."
Saldana-Neumann shot the photographs on display with an older model Canon digital Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera converted to an infrared camera. The modified camera she used to shot her infrared photographs has a super-blue infrared filter located inside the camera in front of the digital sensor.
"By modifying a regular camera to one with an internal infrared filter, you can take a lot of the trail and error out of shooting in infrared and simplify the process," said Saldana-Neumann.
Saldana-Neumann listed several advantages to converting her camera to infrared versus mounting an infrared filter on the lens. "I don't necessarily have to use a tripod with my converted camera. I can hand-hold the camera. I can see the scene in front of me through the viewfinder as I would see the scene through a regular camera. Since the infrared filter is inside the camera, I can use any lens I want to shot a scene. And exposure times are very much shortened with a converted camera compared to using an infrared filter on the lens.
Aside from being fascinated with infrared photography, Saldana-Neumann is even more fascinated that her display in Portugal will be her very first exhibit anywhere. Jose Robert Moreira, director of the Colorida Art Gallery, contacted Saldana-Neumann in June after finding one of her photographs on an online gallery published by the Photo Review Journal. The Photo Review Journal is a critical journal of national scope and international readership. The magazine has earned a reputation as one of the best serious photography publications being produced today. The photograph seen by Morieira was one of her night shot taken in Lincoln.
Saldana-Neumann said Moreia contacted her via email and explained that he had seen her work online. He suggested that she submit recent photographs for review by Gallery staff for possible inclusion in a future exhibition at the Gallery.
"I was very skeptical at first and feared that this may be a some sort of scam," she said. "However, I checked out their Website and contacted several American artists who had exhibited there previously," she said. "The Gallery proved to be legitimate and has a great reputation for promoting emerging talent."
"He made no guarantees," said Saldana-Neumann. "I took a risk. Instead of submitting images of my night photography, I sent him my most recent images of infrared photograph," she said. Two months later, he contacted her again and offered her the opportunity to display her infrared photographs at the Gallery.
"I am so incredibly excited," said Saldana-Neumann. "I'm a relative newcomer to digital photography, so to be exhibited internationally is a huge honor," she said.
Saldana-Neumann recalls her experience with photography as an undergraduate journalism student at the University of Nebraska at Omaha. Back then, she said, manual focus and 35mm film-based cameras were the norm. For photography classes, she bought a Minolta SR-T201 SLR, her first film camera, a classic by anybody's standards. She still has it and says it works beautifully, especially for black and white images.
Over time, she set down her camera, had a family, went back to school for a graduate degree in journalism at UN-L. Four years ago, after many years sans camera, she took up photography again, taking classes at Southeast Community College.
"Nearly everything I know about photography today, I learned from my photography instructor at Southeast Community College, a fantastic teacher by the name of Barbara Hagan," said Saldana-Neumann. "I started with the beginner's class, learning the features of my first digital camera and continued to take Barbara's more advanced photography classes. She helped shape my perception of photography, gave me a solid foundation of technique and provided me with an appreciation for fine art photography. Through her, I rediscovered the absolute joy of photography."
Today, fine art photography is Saldana-Neumann's passion and her obsession. "I love telling a visual story, creating a mood and illustrating a scene that may at times leave the viewer questioning its existence," she said. Night photography and color infrared photography are her focus. "I enjoy capturing light that people are too busy to notice or just cannot see," Saldana-Neumann said.
Her night work has been published in Photography Forum's 2011 Best of Photography Annual and an online gallery of the Photo Review Journal. In January and February 2013, she will be exhibiting more infrared photos in a group show with several other photographic artists in Lincoln at A-Z Printing.
Website News Page at the Colorida Art Gallery: http://www.colorida.biz
Invitation to the Gallery Show: http://www.colorida.biz/saldana.jpg
To Contact the Gallery: Rosemary Esteter, Gallery Curator, rosemary(at)colorida(dot)pt or galleria(dot)colorida(at)gmail(dot)com
General Gallery Website: http://www.colorida.pt
Barbara Hagan, SECC Instructor: 402-327-8006 (Home) 402-416-7584 (Cell)
To learn more about infrared camera conversion go to: http://www.lifepixel.com
IMAGES AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST
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