Featured Photographer: Lori Pond - Learning to Walk in the Dark
“Don’t Just Stand There” from the series Learning to Walk in the Dark
Oftentimes photographs are made with one process or another with no real correlation as to why the process may or may not contribute to the overall success of the work. These days there is a slow returning to analog processes with art making in photography, and at the same time, there is more and more of a hybrid situation being developed by creators. We at Analog Forever Magazine love to tell the tales of “old world” processes, but occasionally it’s a meeting of the minds that also catches our attention. The combining of digital and analog processes is becoming the norm for many, and the latest works by photographer Lori Pond are an excellent example of this.
For her project, Learning to Walk in the Dark, Pond responds to the written word by illustrating a poem written by a woman, Sono, who is learning to accept the ultimate fate of her own passing. These death poems, which follow a long tradition of Japanese Zen Buddhist monks, are written “to not only examine the world in all its impermanence, but to stress the importance of death. These poems remind us that we are most alive when we are present at the edge of the unknown.”
By directing and photographing scenes to illustrate each line of the poem, Pond captures the image digitally, then converting it to black and white and printing it onto sheets of translucent vellum. In the final steps, she backs each printed image with silver leaf “to illustrate both the preciousness of life and certainty of death.” Each print is unique in its representation of the artist’s hand being required to create an art object that exhibits the tactile qualities of the vellum and silver leaf. In doing so, every print becomes precious and one of a kind. Each print is then signed, and the corresponding line from the poem is written in pencil as its title. Lastly, a coat of varnish is applied to the front and back for permanence.
“Soon Enough the Seas will Sink your Little Island.” from the series Learning to Walk in the Dark
The lines of the illustrated poem are as follows:
Don’t just stand there with your hair turning gray.
Soon enough the seas will sink your little island.
So, while there is still the illusion of time,
set out for another shore.
No sense packing a bag. You won’t be able
to lift it into your boat.
Give away all your collections.
Take only new seeds and an old stick.
Send out some prayers on the wind before you sail.
Don’t be afraid.
Someone knows you’re coming. An extra fish has been salted.
~ Sono
Lori Pond’s latest collection is a prime example of the scarcity and shrinking edition sizes being seen in the fine art photography market of late. This scarcity breeds value, and the value is inherent in the richness of each print. In mastering the use of applied silver leaf, Pond is also venturing into using gold leaf in another as yet unreleased body of work. After witnessing her silver leaf prints first hand, these new golden works will be very interesting to see as we look forward to experiencing what she creates next.
We encourage you to visit and connect with her on her Website and on Instagram!
About the Artist
Lori Pond is an artist using the photographic process to explore the human condition as seen through the conflict of good vs. evil, contemporary anxiety and the impermanence of all things.
She received a B.S. in Music Performance and Spanish from Indiana University and an M.A. in Broadcast Journalism from USC before embarking on a career in television, where she is a graphic artist at Conan O’Brien’s talk show, “Conan.” She splits her time between this and her fine art photography.
Her work has been included in numerous solo shows at institutions such as: The Griffin Museum of Photography, (Boston) Oceanside Museum of Art, University of the Arts (Philadelphia) and Gallery 825 in Los Angeles. Lori has exhibited in over 30 group shows around the globe.
Lori’s body of work, “Bosch Redux,” has been featured in online publications and interviews, such as: Beta Developments in Photography, Adobe Create, Lenscratch, Peripheral Vision Arts Salon and Your Daily Photograph. Hard copy publications of her photography have appeared in The Sun Magazine, Seeing in Sixes, Arboreal, Bosch Redux and Self.
Lori’s art can be found in the permanent collections of The Center for Fine Art Photography, Morgan Stanley headquarters and The Center for the Arts, Los Angeles.
She lives and works in Los Angeles.
GALLERY
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael Kirchoff is a photographic artist, independent curator and juror, and advocate for the photographic arts. He has been a juror for Photolucida’s Critical Mass, and has reviewed portfolios for the Los Angeles Center of Photography’s Exposure Reviews and CENTER’s Review Santa Fe. Michael has been a contributing writer for Lenscratch, Light Leaked, and Don’t Take Pictures magazine. In addition, he spent ten years (2006-2016) on the Board of the American Photographic Artists in Los Angeles (APA/LA), producing artist lectures, as well as business and inspirational events for the community. Currently, he is also Editor-in-Chief at Analog Forever magazine, and is the Founding Editor for the online photographer interview website, Catalyst: Interviews. Previously, Michael spent over four years as Editor at BLUR magazine. Connect with Michael Kirchoff on his Website and Instagram!