HEATHER ROSE
email
Philosophy
Green spaces and the natural world have always provided the solace and nurture for my soul, so it was surprising to find that, after a move back to the city in 2017, it is the urban setting that has provided most of the intrigue and inspiration for my photography.
My relationship with cities, here and abroad, has become a watchful dance between anonymity and belonging, intentional gaze and blurred peripheral vision. Cities exude their personalities through their history, their geography, their energy, their people, their architecture, and their art. We interact with each of these, sometimes with deliberate attention but also, peripherally, out of the corner of our eyes, barely aware of the stories unfolding around us amid the thrum of urban activity. My photography attempts to capture that dance, that relationship between my gaze and urban life, both the focused and blurred reality. It is a work in progress and one that provides me with endless intrigue as I gaze around me through my lens for clues of the urban story.
Style
Stylistically, I am drawn to the more oblique gaze provided by shadows and reflective surfaces, as well as the blur of motion which evokes the anonymity in urban dwellers. However, I do not limit my style to urban photography only, exploring other genres freely.
Technique
I work with an Olympus EM-1 but equally with my Iphone 13 pro. I have a toolbox of camera settings and post processing styles that I use when creating images. These include slow shutter speeds, multiple exposures, image stacking, blending modes, and tonal/colour enhancements. I love to experiment, treating my craft as play and allowing myself the freedom in that experimentation to convey the urban story.
Background
I am a retired pediatrician who has found joy in photography throughout a busy career. I picked up my camera again early in 2021 after a hiatus of 14 years. I joined an online educational forum out of the UK called “A Year with My Camera”, regained my foundational technical skills and began a creative photographic journey with a very supportive group of photographers. I became an exhibiting member of Viewpoint Gallery in 2023.