"To take photographs means . . . putting one's head, one's heart and one's eye on the same axis. It's a way of life." - Henri Cartier-Bresson
I find beauty in things that are crumbling, fleeting, and kept in arrested decay. I find details that may be soon erased by wind, dust and time.
I’ve been taking photographs for over 20 years. Good fortune came my way one day at a McDonald's in New York City when someone stole my Kodak disc camera. Yes, good fortune, because after a year without a camera, my mom bought me a Pentax K1000, my first single-lens reflex (SLR).
Time without a camera made me realize just how much I loved taking pictures. I spent many subsequent hours developing photos in bathrooms and real darkrooms from Binghamton, NY to Paris, France, and from Brooklyn, NY to Boston, MA.
I made very few images during my dry period from 2002-2006, also known as acupuncture school. Moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2007, I became reacquainted with my love of photography, bought a Canon Digital Rebel Xsi, and started taking workshops and classes from acclaimed nature photographers Joe Decker and Rick Knepp.
I live in Alameda with my husband Steve and our cat Cotton. When I’m not taking photographs, I am working in my acupuncture offices in Alameda and San Francisco.
Denise is laughing as she pets a horse in Iceland. She is wearing a black hat and black sweater. The horse is tan and beige and is bending its head over a fence.
Awards and shows:
2022 Ballad of Our Changing World, online exhibition and catalog
2021 Food With A Twist, East Bay Photo Collective, Oakland, CA
2018-2010 Spring Show, PhotoCentral, Hayward, CA
2017 Living with the Five Elements, independent show, Inkblot Gallery, Alameda, CA
2013 People's Choice Award, Spring Show, PhotoCentral, Hayward, CA
2009 Alameda on Camera, Satellite Show award, Frank Bette Center for the Arts, Alameda, CA
2011-2009 Frank Bette Center for the Arts – juried group show, Alameda, CA
2009 Shay’s Café, Satellite show of Frank Bette Center for the Arts – independent show, Alameda, CA
2001 The Stebbins Gallery – group show, Cambridge, MA
2000 Celia's Café – independent show, Somerville, MA
2000 Club Passim – show with Heather Brown, Cambridge, MA
1998 Out of the Blue Gallery – group show, Cambridge, MA
1998 Curious Liquids Café – independent show, Boston, MA
1995 612 bar – group show, Brooklyn, NY
Permanent installation:
Goldthwaite-Wright Collection, Framingham, MA
Kleindolph Gallery, Portland, OR
Publications:
Finding Peace in a Restless World
(Photos of Denise by Joe Decker)