Nov. 1999
President's
Message
WIEP Report
Portrait of ...
Portrait Of ...
Heather Siple
As a third-generation photographer, learning the art has truly been a life-long endeavor for me. My first "camera" was actually a Fisher-Price toy. When I was old enough to hold a camera steady, my parents gave me a 110 point-and-shoot camera, and I've been taking pictures ever since. As I grew up, my father taught me all about composition and printing. When I started working independently in school darkrooms, my parents bought me my first, and to date only, SLR - a Cannon AE-1. Today, I show my work in galleries and exhibitions, primarily around the Mid-Atlantic region, as I continue to learn and explore the medium.
Copyright
© Heather Siple
I use a very simple collection of equipment that includes my grandfather's old Omega enlarger. As much of my work is shot from wooded trails, standing in creeks and lying in the dirt, I only carry with me the camera and what will fit in a belt pack - a mini tripod, a 28-200 zoom, some screw-on close-up lenses, a cable release and film.
My work centers on the simple beauty that is part of every object, person and place, be it grandiose or minute. First seeing the whole, I look deeper to find the basic elements that make that whole interesting, elements which have an abstract or emotional quality all their own. Light, form, and texture create an interplay which reductively sculpt the subjects of my work, cutting away what is superfluous or extraneous, leaving only what I view as important. It has never been my intention to disguise my subjects, but rather to show the abstraction in all objects, regardless of placement, lighting, or origin. In this way, I strive to bring to the viewer the extraordinary in everyday things.
Although most of the prints that are recognized as mine are very abstract plant pictures, there will doubtless be a number of soft, tender baby and family-oriented pictures ahead as the Siples' latest project, baby Rebecca Lynn, models for Mommy. Will she be a fourth generation photographer? That's up to her to decide. Now, where did I put that old Fisher-Price camera????
Visit Heather's website at
http://heather.siple.home.worldnet.att.net