Orange and red leaves frozen onto a skylight, split in the middle by a black bar.
Tressa O'Brien, Leaves on a Skylight, Archival Inkjet Print, 15 x 35 x 4 in, 2021
Artwork Statement:
Leaves on a Skylight was taken while on a road trip to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan one early morning in the Porcupine Mountains. After realizing that I left my DSLR at home on my kitchen table I decided that the whole trip will have to be captured from my phone. This led to images that I don't think I would have ever taken had I not forgotten my camera. This particular image was captured after a long morning ride through thick fog. Waiting for the sun to burn off the fog, I heard the call of nature. While going to do what bears do in the woods, the sun burned off the fog and light filled the little shack I was sitting and freezing in in the crisp Autumn morning. As I looked up, I saw light and the way the leaves were wet and clinging to the plexiglass of a small skylight dappling the light so beautifully. This image gave me the inspiration to photograph wet leaves for the rest of the day.
Artist Bio:
Tressa O'Brien is a photographer from the South Side of Chicago. She started her photography studies at Harold Washington College and fell in love with the medium. She studied commercial photography at Harrington College of Design and graduated with a degree in optical sciences in 2006. In 2007 she started working in art education at Harold Washington College which led to a more artistic turn with her photography. Shooting both digital and film, she loves to capture and manipulate the world around her.
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