About Nancy

"Extraordinary Images of the Photographic Arts"

Nancy Myer: About the Artist

I have been active and competed in local camera clubs in Albuquerque, NM and Denver, CO holding offices in both clubs. I owe much of my photographic knowledge to the willingness of fellow club members to share their photographic experience and expertise.

My favorite photographic subjects have always been flowers (especially close-ups of small flowers or details of larger ones), landscapes, and animals but I do photograph other things when they catch my eye. I try to capture my subjects from perspectives the casual observer may not always see.

Recently, I have begun to experiment with using the camera as a tool to create images that the human eye cannot directly observe-especially multiple exposures and montages.

For me, photography provides a frame of reference for viewing my surroundings. Through it, I have become more sensitive to nuances of color, shape, texture, light and shadow-even though I don't always choose to capture what I see on film or, nowadays, digitally. It is this increased sensitivity, for example, that makes even stereotypically "boring" landscapes a rich visual feast when I travel.

I retired in 2001 and began entering my photographs in juried art shows in the Denver Metro area and sometimes elsewhere in Colorado; I have won awards in several of them. In April of 2006, I was invited to join Photographers' Gallery in Cherry Creek North, Denver as one of 6 Associates whose work is continuously exhibited there.

About My Techniques

I have long been frustrated when I have tried to represent flowers and gardens photographically. My photographs of them have seldom depicted the colors and visual textures as I saw them when they first caught my eye. In 2003, I attended a workshop with Canadian photographers, Freeman Patterson and Andre Gallant. There I learned several techniques that I find are helping me to visually express what attracts me to photograph flowers and gardens, in the first place.

These techniques include:

1. Sandwiching two (sometimes more) virtually identical, purposely overexposed images together to create a new image
I have been using at least two variations on that technique:

a. Creating a "mirror image"
by reversing one of the images before sandwiching the two images together

b. Slightly offsetting one image from the other
while leaving both images in their original orientation. This often achieves a "painterly" effect.

2. Sandwiching two differently exposed images of the same subject.
Using a tripod to steady the camera, I shoot one image in sharp focus, at a relatively small lens aperture and with two stops more exposure than the camera's meter suggests is "correct". Without moving the camera, I shoot the other image with only one stop more exposure than the camera's meter suggests. I shoot this second image with the largest lens aperture available and the lens deliberately defocused in the direction that makes the subject appear larger (toward the lens' closest point of focus). This yields a large, very "fuzzy" image of the subject. Most of the color will be in the "fuzzy" image and most of the detail in the sharp image. I usually shoot images at several different amounts of "fuzziness" so I can see which one works best with the sharply focused image. When the sharp image is sandwiched with a "fuzzy" one, the subject will appear to have an "aura".

3. Shooting multiple exposures on the same piece of film
(ie. while it is still in the camera). Each camera will have its own settings for doing this-and with some cameras it is almost impossible to make multiple exposures. It is most convenient to do 4, 9, 16 or 25 images on the same piece of film. Each individual exposure on the piece of film needs to be underexposed by the number of f-stops that is the square root of the number of exposures to be superimposed (2 stops for 4 exposures, 3 stops for 9 exposures, etc.). Again, each camera will have its own most convenient method of making this exposure compensation. After making the appropriate exposure adjustment for the number of superimposed exposures to be made, I handhold my camera and aim it at the subject and begin shooting, keeping track of the number of exposures I've made. If the camera is not solidly attached to a steady tripod, it will wander a bit between shots. Some subjects work best if there is relatively little movement between each shot; others will work best if there is significant movement between shots. It's fun to do these multiples because you never know quite how they will turn out! I usually shoot the same subject several times and the effect is somewhat different in each image.

In early 2006, I began experimenting with pinhole photography a very early photographic technology that does not use a lens but, rather, uses a very tiny hole through which light enters the camera. With no lens to focus the light rays, the image is fuzzy (how fuzzy it is determined by the size of the hole); however, all of it is equally fuzzy, no matter how close or distant the subject. Images created with the pinhole possess a nostalgic, dreamy quality.

Juried Shows

During the past year, my photographs have appeared in the following juried shows:

11th Annual Gateway to the Rockies Art Exhibit
Aurora History Museum (Aurora Artists Guild (Aurora, CO)
September 27-Qctober 29, 2005
(2nd Place, Photography)

2005 Juried Photographic Exhibition
Lincoln Gallery (Loveland, CO) (Thompson Valley Art League)
October 11-29, 2005

Juried Photographic Competition
Jan Pelton Photography (Denver, CO)
November 4-12, 2005

Greenwood...and Beyond" Photography Exhibit 2005
Curtis Arts & Humanities Center (Greenwood Village, CO)
November 5-December 2, 2005

Annual Artists of Colorado State Exhibition
Denver Botanic Gardens (Colorado Artists Guild)
November 8-14, 2005

Fall Festival Juried Art Show
Lincoln Gallery (Loveland, CO) (Thompson Valley Art League)
November 8-December 2, 2005

40th Annual "Through the Eye of the Camera" Photography Exhibit
Littleton Historical Museum's Fine Arts Gallery (Littleton, CO) (Littleton Fine Arts Committee)
January 26-February 22, 2005

"Art on the Edge"
Red Rocks Community College Art Gallery (Lakewood, CO) (Lakewood Arts Council)
January 3D-February 26, 2006

June Juried Fine Arts Show
Lincoln Gallery (Loveland, CO) (Thompson Valley Art League)
June 9-23, 2006
(Merit Award: Photography)

Annual National/Regional Juried Photography Show
Louisville Center for the Arts (Louisville, CO) (Louisville Art Association)
July 1-July 9, 2006
(3 awards: 2nd Place-Color: Landscape and Architecture
Best of Category-Color
Creative Digital or Heavy Interpretive Manipulations; Most Unique)

2006 Fine Arts Exhibition
Fine Arts Exhibition Hall (State Fair Grounds, Pueblo, CO) (Colorado State Fair)
August 25-September 4th, 2006
(Honorable Mention: Photography)

11th Annual Artists of Colorado State Exhibition
Denver Botanic Gardens (Denver, CO) (Colorado Artists Guild)
September 28-Qctober 5, 2006

One Person Shows

In addition, I mounted three one-person exhibits in the past year:

“Photographic Works by Nancy Myer"
Highlands Ranch Public Library (Highlands Ranch, CO)
September 2005

“Flora: A Photographer's Eye"
Photographers' Gallery (Denver, CO)
October 2005

“As I See: Reality and Impression"
Koelbel Public Library (Centennial, CO)
August 2006

Swallow Hill Music Association Café (Denver, CO)
October 2006

Other Shows

I participated in a three-person show ("Three Photographers View Their Worlds") at Jan Pelton Photography Gallery (Denver, CO) for the month of December 2005.

Three of my photographs are part of the permanent student archive of the New York Institute of Photography. I have had two images published in national magazines: Popular Photography and Petersen's Photographic. One of my photographs appeared in the 2003 calendar of the National Association of Retired Federal Employees. Six of my photographs appeared in Verizon's "Community Magazine", issued as part of the 2004 Greater Denver SuperPages.

Upcoming Juried Shows

List to be updated soon.

Upcoming One Person Shows

List to be updated soon.