Sarah Dudley

Sarah Dudley

Photography

A Rural Life

Using digital photography, I am making a series of photographs that embody the rural lifestyle. These photographs represent the importance of the relationships that my family and friends have with the natural world. I have chosen to print this project in black and white because I feel that it better represents the content and the character of the images that I have chosen to include in this series. Making my photographs in black and white brings me a sense of nostalgia that I don?t find in color photography

I photograph my surroundings because this is the part of my life that I feel is closest to who I am as a person today. I was raised with an appreciation of the natural world and how we interact with it. Traveling and hunting have always been part of what keeps my family close together. My Mom and Dad had always taken my brother and I traveling as much as possible. Hoping to instill a close relationship with nature and its surroundings in the both of us. As a child, I remember roaming around the back bay of Island Beach State Park to pick beach plums and watch the red foxes search for clams. Then later in life as a teenager my brother and I were always walking through the trails of Wharton State Forest right here in New Jersey or Fort Clinch State Park in North Florida, around dusk, looking for deer, we appreciated every minute of all of the things we were able to experience both as individuals and as a family.

I make these photographs, as a representation of the people, places, events, and things that have become important to me. The pictures remind me of my past and represent a future I hope to construct for my life. ??

This exhibition was a very exciting moment for me to experience. Taking new photos every week for a two semesters really helped me explore exactly what i wanted to make of my photographs and allowed me to think about what type of photographer i hope to be in the future. Coming every week, with five photographs, hearing the opinions of my peers and professor encouraged me to face some challenges head on that i may not have done previously.

Upon choosing the final photographs, I honestly could not be more pleased with them. They expressed the exact content and emotions I was hoping for. Framing them was my first real professional attempt at exhibiting my photographs. I ran into a few issues attempting to mat them myself and the plexi-glass getting scratched, but looking back now I just see it as a learning experience. Installing the work was easier than i thought it would be. Once I had gotten the layout and measurements figured out along with the placement of my artist statement and my book, I couldn?t have been more pleased with the outcome.

The feedback I received booth during and after the opening reception made me incredibly happy. I was excited to find that so many people had found a way to relate to my work and to look at my photographs while being able to find some sort of emotion or story in each different one. Talking to people from all different backgrounds and finding things in common helped me appreciate how easy it is for art in any form to bring people together.

Overall, my work as an exhibition allowed me to grow both personally and professionally. I look forward to the future work that produce in the future.

2018