AMY DUROCHER

AMY DUROCHER is an award-winning photographer living in Winthrop, Maine. At this time, she works mostly in digital photography. She also works in other media as her muse dictates.  In her photography, Amy finds a meditative practice that allows her to see beauty in unexpected places and achieve a sense of childlike wonder at these surprising scenes. This provides a literal new perspective, allowing for a means to step away from the “noise” of our modern lives. She has practiced this form of photography for the last 10 of the 45 years spent making photographs. Amy is a graduate of Parsons School of Design and New York University. Her work has been seen in the Maine Photography Show, Downeast Magazine, Soho Photo Gallery in NYC, River Arts Gallery in Damariscotta, ME, the Harlow Gallery in Hallowell, ME, and most recently in a solo exhibit at the Salt Pond Studio in Friendship, ME. You can also find her work online at amydurocher.com. 

Amy's artist statement:

My first photos, made with a plastic 110 cartridge camera in the 1970s, were always of clouds. Clouds continue to elicit in me a feeling of connection to the atmosphere, the heavens, the wind, a bigger point of view and a disconnection from time and the mindset of worry or boredom. These photos were my attempt to capture the feelings that arose when I'd see a certain light and feel a certain air quality. I studied with talented photographers later in high school and college, learning to develop film and turn negatives into prints in darkrooms.  I couldn't afford to do much with film, though - it was very expensive to work with, and I found my SLR with one small lens limiting. When digital came along, my passion was re-ignited. I could take as many photos as I liked and didn't need to print them to see them. It was fun again. I still take photos of clouds, but I've also learned to recognize the feeling of wonder and stepping outside my usual self when looking through a lens at other scenes. I see differently when I have my camera - I am freed from my critical mind and I see beauty in unexpected places, and am continually working at finding how I can find that beauty in more and more places. I'm told it's in everything.