Hello, my name is Diana. Here you will find news about my work and curious thoughts about animals.

Friday, May 13, 2011

Spring 2011

I have been thinking a lot about the idea of our share finitude with animals. This came about from both research and spending time at the zoo and museum this semester. I have noticed how taxidermy are often displayed in a way to make the animals look like they are in motion, while the live animals at the zoo often do not move much at all. In both the zoos and the museums, the backgrounds of the displays are painted to resemble landscapes and the artificial plants and props are placed to convince the viewer they are looking into nature. I find it strange that humans try to make a dead animal look like it is alive and also expect a live animal in captivity to act as if it were in the “wild.” To me, these efforts reflects the human fear of finitude. Though we will all die at some point, we often look for ways to prolong existence.

Here are a few new photographs from my second semester of graduate school taken with a medium format pinhole or digital camera.

Saturday, February 12, 2011

It was cold shooting animals!

Last Friday, I went to the zoo hoping to shoot animals in the snow. The forecast the night before predicted a high of 30° F, but it ended up being 4° F!! The photograph above is one of a few outdoor shots. My hands were freezing! I need to buy a good pair of gloves. This photograph caught my attention because the dead plants sticking out of the snow remind me of the reindeer antlers.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

roaches and cocoon

These two images were done a few weeks ago. I used to ignore the bugs section at the zoo, but I've been paying more attention to it lately. The first image was taken with a 35mm pinhole camera and the second image is all digital. It was strange going back to 35mm film after shooting with 4X5 film, the negatives were so small!

Lanscape/Lanscaped

I am very honored and happy to be included in Landscaped/Landscaped at tugboat gallery in Lincoln, NE during photo fest '11. The first images posted are the ones Kim picked for this photo show. I can't wait to be there on Friday!

Thursday, November 4, 2010

Fall 2010

These few images are a sample of what I worked on during my first year of graduate school at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.