hedy bach photographer – Alexis Marie Chute

I love sharing the work of other talented artists, writers, musicians and, of course, photographers. Today is a special guest post by one of the 2017 InFocus Photo photographers. I am pleased to introduce Hedy Bach! I first got to know Hedy and her photography two years ago when she submitted and showed her photography at our 2015 InFocus Photo Exhibit and Award. Hedy is a “sloppy Buddhist” and an inspirational woman in the arts. Below you will find a unique guest blog post, entirely in poem, writing about photography. On that note, I pass this post over to Hedy!

HEDY BACH

i photograph daily

i write daily

i upload images daily

i use adobe lightroom & photo apps

and i try to work mainly in camera

i play with my fujx100s & iphone 6

rarely do i go anywhere without a camera

i like small carry-around cameras

ones i can wear like a necklace

i like to feel obscure

i appreciate tripods but rarely use them

in 2011 i began to photograph with intention

before that i made snapshots

as a girl i was always looking

i learned about the surveyed and surveyors

i studied the place of the photograph

i became a visual researcher

i taught fine arts curriculum to education students

and as a researcher i worked with images and story

social justice issues, human rights, and visual ethics matter deeply to me

line up ~ Edmonton, Alberta ~ 2016 by Hedy Bach

when i started my blog sloppybuddhist.com

i wanted to compose posts with my images

i wanted to be behind a camera

try another way of visual story telling

every day i began to photograph beauty with intention

beauty that can be consoling, disturbing, sacred, profane;

it can be exhilarating, appealing, inspiring, chilling.

couple ~ Edmonton, Alberta ~ 2016 by Hedy Bach

i’m self-taught

i learn from

artists

photographers

photo-journalists

writers

musicians

botanists

bloggers

filmmakers

poets, etc.

mostly i learn along the way

i love

seeing

beauty

in ordinary everyday life

i am a member of two local photography clubs

i attend workshops, talks and competitions

i take free on line learning

i have one to one lessons with photography friends

i continue learning about the taking and making of photography.

resting ~ Lisbon, Portugal ~ 2016 by Hedy Bach

i enjoy street photography

i like people

i like walking and talking with people

it’s enlivening

and i love wandering urban environments

open ~ Dorothy, Alberta ~ 2016 by Hedy Bach

i also love to be alone

walk my dogs

in early mornings just after dark

my magic hour

i love the land

being outside

in a room without a roof

Physalis peruviana ~ Edmonton, Alberta ~ 2016 by Hedy Bach

i photograph in my home

i don’t need to be away to find beauty

of course i enjoy being in front of something different

being in various spaces and places

i am grateful for the opportunities that having a camera has given me.

17-01-10

by hedy

me elsewhere

sloppybuddhist

https://sloppybuddhist.com/

hedy bach;s alberta

http://hedybach.tumblr.com/

Hedy Bach’s Street Photography: A verb…

https://500px.com/hbach

Hedy Bach

https://www.linkedin.com/in/hedybach

Alexis Marie: I am excited to kick off the InFocus Alumni photography blog series with Hedy Bach. She is a perceptive and thoughtful woman, not to mention a blossoming photographer. I hope you enjoy her words and images.

Welcome Hedy!

GUEST POST

Some days opening up an email can be both joyous and a grateful surprise.

Dec 14, 2014 at 8:58 PM, InfocusYEG <infocus@alexismariechute.com> wrote:

Dear Hedy Bach,

Congratulations! I am happy to inform you that your work has been selected for the inaugural InFocus Edmonton exhibition!

Sincerely,

Alexis Marie Chute, Curator

InFocusYEG.com

@infocusYEG

We have chosen your following image for InFocus:

Through the encouragement of my dear friend Eva I had entered my photography work to the InFocus Edmonton exhibition…so having my photograph selected by Alexis Marie along side of other local photographer’s works for this exhibition was both exciting and humbling…now I hope these sorts of experiences will be followed by many other photography exhibitions.

As an image-maker I study how the world around me looks and sounds through ordinary harmony and fittingness. I work daily with my camera and with words to compose beautiful “thought things” (Arendt, 1978) as a way to form ideas and to inspire reflection and rumination; perhaps start a conversation. I am intentional in choosing to photograph my life with beauty… beauty as consoling, disturbing, sacred, profane; it can be exhilarating, appealing, inspiring, chilling. And it may affect us in unlimited ways. Yet it is never viewed with indifference.

Exploring Scruton’s (2009) concept of beauty, means I ask what makes an object – either in art, in nature, or the human form – beautiful? I examine how I compare differing judgements/positions of beauty when it is evident all around us knowing that aesthetic tastes vary widely. I often ask myself is there a right judgement to be made about beauty? In my image based work I try to create a sense of meaning in the beautiful objects and experiences that fill my life.

My photographs are allegories for my understandings of human desire for settlement of spaces and places in which people and things fit together. I appreciate beauty along side of my sense of “disinterested interest.” as I try to negotiate my subjectivities of looking and composing my “thought things” with ideas of why beauty matters, to see the remedy of beauty as an instrument of peace.