Anne Berry

Anne Berry 87 Park View Drive * Newnan, GA 30263 anne.ellis.berry@gmail.com * www.anneberrystudio.com

I feel compelled to take pictures of animals to get people to feel empathy for them and to arouse an interest in their care and

conservation. In today’s society pets are pampered and anthropomorphized, but animals are often overlooked and dismissed.

My photographs are about the beauty of animals but also about their plight. The pictorial quality of these images softens the

shock, but the punch is there in the eyes and expressions of the animals. I anticipate the moment that I can capture something

in the essence of an animal, so that through the photograph it speaks. The animal begs the viewer to consider his place in the

world; he is an ambassador for all the animals in his species.

I use a Carl Zeiss Jena lens with a tilt adapter. I now capture the image digitally, but my habits are from shooting film: I do not

look at the display screen, and I focus manually. I convert the image to black and white and manipulate it as I would in the

darkroom, dodging, burning, and sometimes creating photomontages. In a black and white photograph the absence of color

makes form central, and I concentrate on that aspect of the photograph. Also I use shallow depth of field to emphasize what

I consider the important elements of the image. The square format implies earth, and I usually incorporate a circular or triangular

shape, expressive of the invisible world, into the image. The prints are 15” x 15” digital silver gelatin, limited editions.