Feminizing the Lens: Five Notable L.A.Photographers

WORDS LANEE NEIL
IMAGES COURTESY OF THE PHOTOGRAPHERS

Ithaka 27 - Alex Hedison

In the fame-obsessed city of Los Angeles, with so many women vying to be seen, these seers prefer to see. Throughout photography’s brief history, women have enlarged the scope of the medium by extricating images from the camera that nurture many conflicting desires of the unconscious mind, transport beyond the confines of the mundane, and bring a vulnerable emotionality to the subject. Fabrik Magazine recognizes five photographers based in Los Angeles for their ability to illuminate and feminize the lens.

Alex Hedison

It was the alluring design of a Contax T2 with the retracting Zeiss lens that wooed actress Alex Hedison to integrate artistry behind the camera as well. The fine art photography community confirmed her choice. In 2002, Rose Gallery of Santa Monica gave Hedison her first solo show exhibiting the series, “Elements,” in which she portrays dream-like landscapes.

As a way to conjure and motivate imagination, Hedison prefers straight photography without post-production manipulation. She explains her choice, “There’s something about the frame of a photo and composing within that frame that I love. I’m not a big fan of cropping and changing the composition once I shoot it. It pushes me to continue to express myself in a time where so much has changed about the medium itself.”

Taking this technical discipline to a new level by using a large format camera, she captured the North American rainforest with piercingly vivid detail in the “ITHAKA” series. “ITHAKA” has exhibited internationally and is ironically not about trees but a metaphor for one’s process of discovery. Currently, Hedison is working on a series centered in Malibu examining, in her words, the ‘architecture of memory.’

More information and portfolio can be found at www.hedison.com.

Sharon Johnson-Tennant

Leaving the fashion world behind and following her true passion of photography has led Sharon Johnson-Tennant to exotic destinations like Papua New Guinea, Borneo, India, and Africa to capture the simplicity and dignity of humanity that most would overlook. Her latest work, which spans over five years, tells a haunting story of what the residents of the lower ninth ward of New Orleans left behind in exchange for survival.

Whether abroad or in her backyard, she pursues balance and elegance in ordinary moments of life. Johnson-Tennant explains her approach, “I see sensuality in the details, the light, the shadows, and the fabrics and textures around me. I think and shoot in color - this, to me, shows the reality of daily life in its truest form - fully saturated, vibrant and alive.” Her photos have been recognized in publications such as National Geographic Traveller and PDN Magazine. Her next gallery show is at the Robert Berman Gallery, Bergamot Station in November 2011.

More information and portfolio can be found at www.sjtdesigns.net.

Tasya van Ree

In her relatively short four-year career, Tasya van Ree’s images, in both photography and video, are exploding on the LA art scene. Her photographs channel intelligent sexuality by utilizing models possessing non-traditional beauty in corsets and stockings juxtaposed with studded leather jackets and fedora hats. Modern femininity, where a woman is both powerful and alluring at the same instant, dominants van Ree’s black and white imagery. Fans of Helmut Newton and filmmaker Tinto Brass would not be disappointed by van Ree’s sublimation of the female form.

And it certainly seems current culture is endorsing van Ree’s perspective as well. She is working on two photography books, a t-shirt line called “Saints vs. Sinners,” an art installation for designer Tory Burch, an exhibition during MOPLA with the Lucie Foundation and a bevy of celebrity art commissions.

More information and portfolio can be found at www.tasyavanree.com.

Marjorie Salvaterra

Inspiration comes from diverse origins. In Marjorie Salvaterra’s case, she made the transition from acting to photography after playing the lead in Herb Ritts’ film “The Faculty Lounge.” Drawing from her theatrical background, her black and white photographs strikingly illuminate raw human emotion and form. Virginia Heckart, Associate Curator of Photography at The Getty Center, describes Salvaterra’s images and their dramatic impact as “a fine line between sanity and insanity.”

Understanding the psyche plunges her into exploring the dark, fragile and sometimes obscene nature of the human spirit. Salvaterra says, “Some believe people are either born sane or insane. Others believe we are all born perfect and it’s the things that happen in our lives that damage us. I tend to believe the latter. In each portrait, I am looking for that line in each person: the part of ourselves that we tend to hide, the part that scares us…” Clark | Oshin Gallery is hosting a solo exhibition for Marjorie Salvaterra at Pier 59 Studios West, Bergamot Station for the opening night of Month of Photography Los Angeles (MOPLA), April 2nd, 2011.

More information and portfolio can be found at www.marjoriesalvaterra.com.

Lacey Terrell

Circuses and film sets are synonymous in Lacey Terrell’s world. Terrell has serious authority to make this comparison as her “Circus” series documents the Culpepper & Merriweather Circus over fourteen years which led her to working as a still photographer on film sets since 1999. She speaks about her attraction to both environments. “Both have disparate people coming together to put on a “show” and I instantly felt comfortable in this gypsy-like environment.”

Following the edict of circumstance, Terrell has transformed obtuse moments on a film set into tender vignettes in her most recent series, “offset.” “offSET” has garnered Terrell much recognition. It was awarded Best in Show in Lens 2011, selected by Natasha Egan of the Museum of Contemporary Photography, and also 1st Prize in the Photo Review 2010 Competition. She is currently working on a book commencing her epic chronicle of the “Circus” series.

More information and portfolio can be found at www.laceyterrell.com.

Following are images of the photographer’s work. Click on each image for a larger view: