ENTRY DESCRIPTION
The image Zabriski, taken in Death Valley, California on March 23, 2021, is from my current ongoing project called Segue. It contains both the element of the power of light in a simple composition and the recurring lack of human presence, thus a continuation of my vision. Segue, a smooth, uninterrupted transition from one thing to another, originated during the pandemic, celebrating the gift of returning to independent, unrestricted movement and thought.

AUTHOR
Karen Elizabeth Baker is an American fine art photographer. She practices the investigation of image making, from the gelatin silver prints she made early on to her current engagement with digital platforms.

Baker’s foremost signature is capturing the mundane aspects of American social landscape in straightforward, unglamorous images. She studied photography and art history at UCLA and under artists Keith Carter, Roger Ballen, Shelby Lee Adams, Ed Freeman and Julie Blackmon. She received a BFA in art and art history with a focus on photography from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She has won awards from the Los Angeles Center of Photography and Monochrome Photography Awards, and her work is in the collection of the Waiea, Ward Village, Honolulu.

Her images reiterate various tropes about landscape photography, architectural photography, narrative photography still life photography, and various other contemporary – notably, color – photographic practice. Bakerʻs inspirations originate from William Eggelston’s pioneering work in color and the New Topographic photographers Robert Adams, Stephen Shore and Henry Wesselʻs exploration with man altered landscapes. A repeated theme in her work is the portrayal of spaces that seem devoid of human presence, creating tension due to the absence of their human inhabitants. This absence elevates the diverse range of everyday subjects into a cohesive body of artistic expression.

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