Washington DC-based Shauna Lee Lange Arts Advisory has been, over the past several months, on the receiving end of the better half of a long-distance e-mail relationship with a fine arts photographer, Susan Kopecky. Working with medium and large format film cameras, Kopecky photographs subjects that evoke an emotional response. She strives to print the image the way it "felt" at the moment it was photographed rather than trying to replicate the way it appeared. Kopecky's images are a combination of simplicity and emotional response and they further illustrate how she thinks and feels about the subjects.
Kopecky has been involved in black and white, fine art photography for over two decades. Her work has received national attention by being selected for numerous group exhibitions, with several images receiving awards in galleries across the country. Kopecky continues to compete in national and international juried competitions and her prints are held in numerous corporate collections, as well as private residences.
She offers prints commercially through her website and like all artists has struggled with periods of productivity verses "leaving it alone for a bit". Each of her prints is handmade by the artist, signed, numbered, and part of a limited edition. At no time in the image creating process (from film exposure to film processing/printing, to toning, mounting/matting, and framing) does the image leave the artist's hands. Images are printed on black and white, fiber base photographic paper, in a traditional wet chemical darkroom. These are NOT digital prints. The prints are then Selenium toned, and once dry, they are mounted, matted and waxed to gallery standards for archivability. All images are mounted on acid free, four ply, mat board with over-mats cut from the same. These prints are guaranteed to last a lifetime.
Kopecky is amazing to me in all she does and strives to do (we're talking to one exercising - book reading - cat loving MACHINE), but I personally believe you can get a feel for her love of photography and for the process of photography through her careful revival of her grandmother's negatives. Featured above are three images from her 2004 series: Family Men; Young Brothers; and Boy and Horses. I am grateful for the artist's permission to represent her work in this forum. You can contact the ansel adam-ist at her email, kopecky-photo@hotmail.com.
