Bio
Laura Hardesty began taking pictures in high school in Hollywood, Ca when her mother saved up to buy her first 35mm camera. Through all of her passions and interests in her life: acting, writing, computers, web design, and even her most recent achievements of obtaining concurrent Bachelor of Science in IT and Bachelor of Arts in English with honors, she has always returned to photography - her first love. Just as her interests seem at odds with each other - analytical technology and the creativity of literature - her subjects through the lens are as diverse and evolving, from the soft and colorful (macro) focus of nature photography to her most recent immersion into the gritty hard textures of industrial subjects. She lives in Coral Gables, Florida with her partner of 12 years. Her unique perspective has been on exhibit at galleries around Ft. Lauderdale, with "Lathe" winning second place honors at the Broward Art Guild's 57th Anniversary Exhibition.
Photography...
Because the memory is fallible,
the eyes can be deceiving,
the mind preoccupied,
and the imagination stunted by adulthood.
For me, photography, digital in particular, means bringing the details to the forefront that our eyes often cannot see. Photography creates a new paradigm through shifting light, enhances the imagination that we all had as children, and can bring back memories of a place or feeling you thought you'd forgotten. It is also a statement for me - social and environmental. My photos evolve to new subjects all the time, but throughout I instinctively look for the old in the new, because our society is a disposable wasteful one that is losing its regard for the old; old places, old people, old morals and ideals. Cities are wantonly destroying the craftsmanship of older buildings to make room for condos, eradicating natural habitat for malls and poorly constructed, unoriginal houses. The environment has been kicked to the curb along with the homeless people.
My photos depict the beauty of nature and the character of work, tools and machines, even as it was the industrial revolution that was the catalyst for the current global warming condition and the fleeting existence of so much in nature. I want to preserve things that generations ahead will not have.