Art
THE
of Capturing a Moment
K
erry Gallagher has that uncanny knack of taking the ordinary and seeing the extraordinary in it. From photography to jewelry making, the longtime Santa Fe resident has an eye for detail. Whether it’s fine art, advertising, editorial, lifestyle, assignment, commercial, portrait or wedding photography, Gallagher has that sixth sense that makes her photos vibrant and alive. She started doing photography in sixth grade. “My sister set up a dark room in the basement, and soon I took it over. It was the old depression era photos from Time Magazine that really piqued my interest in photographing people, the way a photo can tell a story. I started with 35 mm film,” she recalls. She studied fine art and photography at the University of New Mexico and, in order to catch herself up to the digital age, she attended media courses at the community college. Gallagher has been in Santa Fe since 1981. She takes pride in having photographed the city’s people and landscape for almost 38 years. “It’s the light,” she explains. “The southwestern light has such clarity and brilliance. It bounces and recreates hues on buildings and landscapes.” Gallagher considers one of her talents to be capturing a moment. “You can’t really plan a photo,” she says. “You have to arrive and work around it. You can’t plan a person’s mood or the weather. You have to be able to work with what you have.” What’s in a good photograph? Gallagher says it depends. “It can be a bad quality photo that tells a good story. Or it can technically be out of focus but be a beautiful shot. It’s a visual. It freezes a moment in time.” Gallagher does a fair amount of abstract photography, playing with light and blur. For example, one of her favorite topics
is aspen in the fall. She’ll take a photo on a slow shutter speed and then move the camera in order to make a look and feel that’s similar to an impressionist painting. Another favorite of hers is playing with silhouettes and shadows of rodeo images. “I don’t know how to describe myself,” she reflects. “I say I’m a fine art and abstract photographer. Other times, I say I’m an image maker.” She also plays with manipulating images, and maintains that what modern age photographers do on a computer, photographers of yore did with chemicals in a dark room. Among her other talents, Gallagher makes and sells jewelry. She uses vintage crystals from the 30s and 40s, cuts them up, and recreates them as contemporary jewelry for women. Her work is available at Turquoise House. “There are no rules,” she maintains. She adds with a laugh: “Except of course when it comes to clients.” The quality of her work can be found among the pages of this issue of Fine Lifestyles Magazine. Whether it’s a professional situation or her own art, Gallagher uses her experience and unique instinct to always create an indelible image. Kerry Gallagher Photography 505.316.2757 kerrygallagherphotography.com kerryspixel@gmail.com