Lick Creek Photography, LLC

Joy's Bio

I was born and raised in Ohio and New Orleans, taught elementary school children in Ohio, Japan and California, married my husband Howard more than forty years ago, raised a son and a daughter who with their spouses are raising three daughters and three sons, worked for several years with a hospice, went to graduate school and became a psychologist, worked in that profession for several years, retired and moved to what will always be home to me, McCall, Idaho.

What has drawn my photographic interest has been the revelation of complexity when we look closely at the world that surrounds us.  The widest view is unimaginably complex, and we can and do need to draw down and simplify from that in order to live our lives.  But if we move past that seeming simplicity and continue to look more and more closely, we find new complexities emerge, unexpected complexities and patterns and abstractions open to our view.  This fascinates me.

Much of my photography has involved taking a macro lens to these often  unnoticed views.  So, I might photograph the Dr. Seuss-like forms of a prairie smoke plant gone to seed, or the improbably bright centers of delicate Iceland poppies.  Or perhaps the patterns formed by ice breaking up in the river after a spring thaw.  Or the subtle color and rich texture of a very old barn wall.

The photo abstracts I create evolved from this interest.  In 2002, after months of the winter whites of our beautiful Idaho mountains, my husband and I traveled to Alamos, Mexico.  There, surrounded by 17th century Spanish architecture, I was mesmerized by the layered colors and textures of those ancient structures.  A curved arch caught my eye, a colorful column interested me.  I wondered whether a small detail might reveal more about the history and beauty of an old building than any attempt to capture its entirety.

When I returned home, I began to juxtapose one picture with others to explore further their beauty and complexity.  These works were my first photo abstracts.  More recently, I have combined photos into dreamlike images.  Many of these works use photos or bits of photos from Mexico, but others may use the color and inner form of an Idaho wildflower or the textures of an old barn.

Sometimes this work feels like a thoughtful revelation of the rich history from which those images evolved; sometimes it simply feels like fun!  Sometimes the work affirms and even intensifies perception; sometimes it seems to lead perception astray.  I may discover and celebrate an existing pattern or I may create a new one.  As I wander along that digital yellow brick road, the possibilities seem endless.