Even before I mastered language, I began “speaking” with nature by responding in my own unique way to each element of form, color, shape, texture, pattern, movement, harmony, incongruity, and imbalance that I encountered. Generally finding my subjects while meandering by foot on scenic walks, I continue to be awed by scenes of incongruity as well as beauty. When some minor detail catches my eye, I may snap a photo to capture that moment of inspiration.
Photographing the world around me, I imagine that I’m “editing the scenery” when I zero in on just one element; such as in the photo prioritizing circular architectural details of a much larger street scene or when I captured nasturtiums covered with raindrops following a light rain. The lighting had to be perfect, and it cooperated with remarkable aplomb.
Since I was a child, trees and bark have fascinated me. I was so drawn to the silhouette of a mulberry tree on the University of California, Berkeley, campus that I returned to take and retake that image multiple times. Capturing the sunlight as it descended into darkness beneath the horizon, I stood transfixed by its awesome power. And yet, while dashing home on a brisk winter’s night, I was equally drawn to a moonscape of twinkly lights projected onto the tree. Moreover, while cropping the image of a cork tree to reveal the soft focus of its marshy background on an autumn afternoon in Massachusetts’ Arnold Arboretum, I was thrilled with that painterly effect. And, passing pink coneflowers repeatedly in my own neighborhood while commuting to work every day, an overcast sky one morning enabled me to focus carefully on each blossom, elevating those tiny flowers into something monumental.
Here are a few of my photographic compositions from the past decade.
After earning a BA degree in Art History (UC Davis, 1978) and taking studio classes from Sacramento-based artists Lois Upham and Wayne Thiebaud, Susan Aberg interned as a curatorial assistant at The Richard Nelson Art Gallery (Davis), E.B. Crocker Art Gallery (Sacramento), The Oakland Museum (Oakland), the De Young Memorial Museum, and Maxwell Art Galleries (San Francisco). She worked as a production weaver for a Bay Area clothing company before launching an event-planning career at the University of California, Berkeley, and creating “Art is Life” on Facebook in 2012.
