Denice Fetzer Woller has been an aspiring photographer since she was a teenager growing up in Colome, South Dakota. After years of ignoring her mother who said she should become a photographer, she began working as the editor of her hometown newspaper. Denice attended Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato where she honed her photography skills. She as been teaching photography and journalism at Bethany for several years. In 2006 she completed her MA from Minnesota State University, Mankato in studio art with a photography emphasis. From her home Denice also runs "Woller Photography", a small portrait studio. Her greatest photographic passion is capturing things in their habitat that over time will not appear the same.

Denice.Woller@blc.edu • 507.344.7860

"Different Perspectives" was the eighth art exhibit held at the Raydiance Salon Gallery. The show featured prints for sale of photographs taken in New York. Some of the images are available for purchase. Please don't hesitate to contact Denise with inquiries.

Artist Statement

A photographer is trained to observe. That is our job. We observe and then document those observations on photographic film. New York City offers a plethora of images of all types. I knew when I boarded the plane there wouldn’t be a shortage of subject matter for this series.

After returning to MN with over 450 images I started to see a pattern as I edited. Particular images seemed to meld with each other in pairs. Some parings are subtler than others, but they all relate and work with each other in a way that I find interesting. There are a few reasons why most of the scenes you see are not typical New York City ‘postcard’ images, but the main reason is that for a unique process I wanted to use unique photographs.

The process of creating these final prints is not a typical darkroom technique. This was my original intent. I wanted my new images to feel old and aged like the classic photographs of New York City. I wanted to shoot black and white, but not allow the images to look like ‘normal’ black and white images. The printing technique I chose is called Lith printing. Lith images are typically high in contrast. It is easy to lose the details in your blacks and almost impossible to achieve details in your white areas. The amber/sepia tones of the images I achieved are created by the combination of printing paper with the chemicals.

The process of printing this way can be both rewarding and frustrating. It can take anywhere from 15-60 minutes for the image to develop, in addition to the numerous other steps to create the final print. Therefore, creating the 20 prints you see was no quick task. Each of these images is one of a kind. No other print exactly like it exists, and there will quite possibly never be another. While I was printing this series the paper company I used went bankrupt. In a way the frustrations I experienced to produce it make this collection even more special to me, and I hope you enjoy my DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES of New York City.

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