Equinox, Alaska by Kim Torian Terpening

My studio work over the last 12 years has focused on the Alaskan landscape and its profound effect on me artistically and spiritually, interpreted through digital photography. I feel successful as an artist if I’m able to convey to the viewer my personal visual perspective. I feel 100 times more successful if I have conveyed to the viewer how I felt in the moment.

In the exhibition “Equinox, Alaska” I present my photographic interpretations of the light, mood and textures of Kachemak Bay. With my iPhone, I capture plants, water and sky during the Autumnal Equinox. The fall in Kachemak Bay invigorates and inspires me artistically like no other time of year. The imposing and ubiquitous pushki plants, so common in our summer landscape, dry in the fall to become legions of tattered soldiers marching across the fields. Rolling hills of fireweed transform magically from magenta to red to fluffy white. The bay turns a seductive green as the light shifts at the autumnal equinox. And the clouds scud and boil to a rhythm only felt at the time of year when the sun crosses the plane of the equator making day and night of equal length.

In the “Alter Ego Series” I explore a nuanced and alternative version of myself unencumbered by clothing and gravity. At times I can be seen floating lightly over the landscape and at other times celebrating the immense joy, freedom and inner power I feel at this time of year.

All images were printed in my studio on an Epson fine art printer using archival Epson K3 inks. Each image has been finished with a protective archival and waterproof varnish in place of glass to enhance the viewer’s experience. Most images and digital elements used in these images were captured with an iPhone 5 and 6.