Arty Girl: Linda Connor at Phoenix Art Museum

Linda Connor, Mudra Mindroling Monastery, Tibet 1993I have to hand it to photographers...and not just because I get paid to.Honestly, I don't have a mind for what they do. I took one photography class when I was 17 and ended up dropping halfway through the semester. It's the process that...

By Lilia Menconi

January 28, 2009

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Linda Connor, Mudra Mindroling Monastery, Tibet 1993

I have to hand it to photographers...and not just because I get paid to.

Honestly, I don't have a mind for what they do. I took one photography class when I was 17 and ended up dropping halfway through the semester. It's the process that gets me down. It's just too damn technical. But, hey, I'm the girl who never learned how to hook up a VCR.

Regardless, I have the utmost respect for photographers. Particularly Linda Connor who's photos have been on display at the Phoenix Art Museum since November.

Linda Connor, O'Hia Hawaii 1997

Connor spent her career traveling and taking photos. But she's no digital snapper of images. The woman lugs a large format view camera (the negatives are a whopping 8 x 10 inches) to places like India, Indonesia, Turkey, Cambodia, Egypt, Tibet, and right here in the American Southwest.

Connor focuses on spiritual imagery - religious symbols, quiet spaces, nature's beauty and all those little corners of the earth that seem to move us. Often using long exposures, the photos have a lasting quality. They focus on place rather than a moment in time. Connor develops the photos in her garden at home by laying the large negative straight on the printing paper and using the sunlight. She then uses gold chloride to tone the images.

And while that process sounds like a tedious mess to me, Connor delivers stunning photographs.

She'll talk about her career and the 70+ works on display at the Phoenix Art Museum this Saturday, January 31st at 2:00 p.m.

Phoenix Art Museum, 1625 N. Central Ave in Phoenix. 602-257-1222, PhxArt.org

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