My trips to Slot Canyons, camera in hand, translated into such awe and mystery, and deepened my connection to the Divine. With my background in the healing arts as a music psychotherapist, it was a total match for my psyche. The abstract nature of the naturally-sculpted formations evoked inner dream images. And there, standing in what seemed like the birth canal, 80 feet inside the earth in a womb-like cave open to the sky, a photographer was born.
For me, nature photography is bringing the beauty of the soul into focus and offering the results to other people as a way of seeing into meaning together. Now I experience all of my work as inner landscapes – looking beyond the surface image and seeing more deeply inside. Indeed, my fi rst published image was of the canyons and was called “Inner Landscape.” It was featured on the brochure cover for Common Boundary Conference in Washington, D.C., with the words, “Enter the realm where Earth and Soul are one.” Performance and Creativity: I have a Master of Arts in music, and as a Fellow of the Association for Music and Imagery and a teacher of Guided Imagery and Music, one of my loves is combining imagery with music. An amazing highlight was co-creating “In Search of Soul” with master cellist David Darling, as he ‘played’ my images at Immaculata University’s Institute for Music and Healing, improvising from deep within himself, having seen the images for the fi rst time that day. He also chose to feature my images in the booklet of his CD The Tao of Cello.
Teaching: I have enjoyed teaching “Photography as a Doorway to Spirit” workshops at Pendle Hill Quaker Center for Contemplation in Pennsylvania. I feel that honoring the art and music of nature can help us celebrate the Divine spark within each of us and within all of nature. Having my images featured in Drew Leder’s book, Sparks of the Divine: Finding Inspiration in our Everyday World was truly a source of inspiration for me. I feel that my photographic signature has become the quality of light, profusion of color and the dimension of the feminine Divine that I strive to render.
Studies: In the summer of ’08, I traveled on a 70th birthday trip, spending two weeks in Monet’s magical water lily garden in Giverny, France. I explored macro fl ower photography and many aspects of abstract fl ower photography there, learning to ‘paint with my camera.’ I now give a PowerPoint presentation on Monet’s Garden entitled: “Bringing the Beauty of the Soul into Focus.” I resonate deeply with Rachel Carson’s writing in A Sense of Wonder: “those who contemplate nature will fi nd reserves of strength that will last as long as life lasts.”
Publishing: Widely published, I am regularly featured in the Hummingbird Connection, the colorful periodical of the Hummingbird Society; on the covers of the prestigious High Country Gardens catalogs in Santa Fe, and am a three time winner in the Self-Realization Fellowship’s “Inner Refl ections” calendar for my fl owers, birds, and butterfl ies. I have a cover on Dr. John Snyder’s book, Flying Lessons, and covers on many music therapy-themed and hummingbird books. I have many solo exhibits to my credit, and my work has been viewed and appreciated in galleries, hospitals, churches and retreat centers in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Ohio, Arizona and New Mexico. All of this has resulted in my opening the Sedona Hummingbird Gallery and Spirit Center in the spring of 2007 which was featured in Sedona Monthly. I was excited to win the Backyard Photography Contest with my mating butterfl y image entitled: “There’s no other way to make new butterfl ies,” chosen as one of 27 images of 7,500, published in Nature’s Best Magazine. Beth has now published two hummingbird books: Anna’s in the Snow and Hummy the Magnifi cent: How a Hummingbird Learned to Read, both available at my gallery.
To see more of my work, log on to www.hummerlady.com To contact me, phone (928) 284-0339 at the Sedona Hummingbird Gallery and Spirit Center, 6560 State Route 179, Suite 126, Sedona AZ 86351 (corner of Highway 179 and Cortez Rd), or e-mail, hummerlady@hummerlady.com
