ARTIST’S STATEMENT:
 
Transformation: Capturing the Moment
Fragmentation, along with the interplay of positive and negative space as it relates to form, is the element of my photographs. Black and white and the shades in between comprise my world of color. I am drawn to the beauty in the world that surrounds me both man-made and natural. Buildings, canyons, and landscapes each become part of a reconstructed image. These transformations are inspired by the cubist concept of revealing an object from different points of view. To create my photographs, I often cut my contact sheets and reassemble them to make a new image that flows. While interested in the individual photographs, it is their reconstruction that I focus on. My hope is to communicate the beauty I see around me through these transformations.
 
I longed to arrest all beauty that came before me, and at length the longing has been satisfied. This quote by Julia Margaret Cameron closely expresses my feelings, explaining the very reason I think photography so appealed to me. I “see” the beauty in all the views around me. To be able to capture this beauty that I thought I could only see for myself and to give it to others is the joy I find in this very expressive art form. I no longer have to say, “Look at this! Isn’t it wonderful; please pay attention to the beauty around you.” I now only have to capture the moment. Words have always been difficult; seeing has always been easy, but until I found photography, images flew through my mind, never caught. The longing has been satisfied, the images remain, hopefully others will “see” the way I see, enjoy my images as I do and feel a moment of contentment.
Beauty, a very fragile ingredient of life, is quick to flee. Capturing one moment is a treasure. I see this capturing as a never-ending process that fills my need to communicate with others. To quote Martha Graham, However, art is eternal: for it reveals the inner landscape which is the soul of man.
 
– Lucille Tortora