Then and Now is a multimedia time lapse project that looks at how we age. The images show physical deterioration and the inevitable promise of mortality. However, what ultimately shines through is each person’s unchanging spirit of life.
Artist Bio:
Lori grew up in the shadow of Mickey Mouse’s ears in Anaheim, California. She shared a love of music performance and photography from a very young age with her father, who encouraged and inspired her in both areas.
Lori studied Flute Performance and Spanish at Indiana University, graduating with honors. She continued on to USC, where she got a Master of Arts degree in Broadcast Journalism.
For the last 25 years, Lori has worked as a graphic designer/operator for mostly live television productions. Her work has appeared on award shows, such as the Grammys and Emmys; reality shows, (Dancing with the Stars, So You Think You Can Dance) talk shows and industrial productions. Currently, her work can be seen on Conan O’Brien’s talk show.
Her interest in photography never abated, but took many forms. Black and white street/documentary projects eventually morphed into macro studies of the natural world. Her many trips throughout the world produced a large, vivid body of travel photography. Lori’s more recent work examines her internal emotions, struggles and triumphs. Her award-winning photographs have been exhibited nationally and internationally and can be found in the permanent collections at the Center for Fine Art Photography in Ft. Collins, CO and at the Center for the Arts in Los Angeles, CA. She is also widely published online, in magazines and books.
Artist Statement:
“My photographs attempt to codify my dreams. They integrate and blur the lines between waking and dreaming, life and death."
Digital photographer Lori Pond creates work inspired by her dreams and life experiences. She explores, combines and creates dreamscapes that have their genesis both in the physical world and in her mind's eye. She shoots with both a Nikon D800 and an iPhone to create self-portraits of her journey through a divorce. She enjoys altering reality just enough to open a window into the viewer's imagination and reveal a photographic alpha state. Her latest project looks at how we age via combining past and present images into a video format.
Lori's photographic process involves both in-camera capture and post-processing tools, such as Photoshop and Nik Software. There are two stages to her work. First, she makes an image with the camera. Then, she brings that image into the computer where she blends textures, overlays and other images together to create the final piece. She recently purchased an HDSLR for multimedia work and uses Adobe Premiere to edit. She prints with archival pigment-based inks on Hahnemuhle rag papers.
Q&A:
Where did you grow up and what was your childhood like?
I grew up in Anaheim, California, within walking distance of Disneyland. I can't say I liked living there. Everywhere around me were tract homes, all built in the 40s and 50s, all a variation of 2 or 3 different models. It was disorienting to me to go to my next door neighbor's house whose floor plan was the same as mine, only flipped horizontally. I didn't like living in a grid of sameness. Everyone looked like me, too. Blonde hair, blue or brown eyes; white. I knew I had to get out of there. I needed to experience randomness, otherness.
Who or what are influential in your work?
Garry Winogrand, because he was compelled to shoot; Jerry Uelsmann because he creates whole new worlds with his post-visualization techniques; Dutch Masters from the 17th century for their ability to capture the nature of light as it falls on different surfaces; Beethoven, just because.
What is one of your favorite sayings, quotes or piece of advice?
"Moonlight reflected in a dew drop, shaken from a crane's bill."
--Dogen
13th century Japanese Zen Buddhist
This phrase encapsulates for me the ephemeral nature of life, how all the eternal beauty of oneness is expressed every moment if we are present enough in the moment to see it.
To contact Lori Pond directly:
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