CAP Artist Registry

scl8@cornell.edu
http://www.SusanCLarkin.com

Both of my parents were artists - one a photographer and the other a painter. They spent long hours at their crafts and Christmas cards were a joint project - painted, printed, and mailed from home.

I couldn't paint, and only took an occasional photograph with my Brownie camera, but the tradition of homemade cards persisted throughout my life. Eventually the Christmas cards led to birthday cards-photos and personal stories put together with the help of our home computer. But the programs I used were inadequate, and Photoshop was hard to learn-until I retired and found classes at Tompkins Cortland Community College. Five years and many challenges later, I have moved from cards, to family montages, to a book about our neighborhood, and currently to close-ups of flowers.

The extended depth of field in my macro images comes from using a program called Helicon Focus. Every photograph is a combination of several images, each with a different focal point. This technique requires a tripod, almost no wind, constant light, and patience. Many attempts don't succeed, but when I make an image that draws my eye from one detail to another, and back again, I begin to communicate.

Photography has given me the joy of discovery that my parents felt when they were hard at work on their crafts - so many years ago.