Color ‘pops’ in young photographer’s exhibit
Published 1:58 am Thursday, December 21, 2017
- PHOTOGRAPHER PHOTOGRAPHED: Maddy Correa’s photography is currently on display at Arts of the Pamlico’s Turnage Theatre in Washington. The 8th-grader uses a combination of lenses, multiple shots and photo editing to create her photographs. (Vail Stewart Rumley/Daily News)
Some are light and airy; colors reminiscent of dawn light. Others are sharp and edgy, angles protruding into space. All are taken by budding photographer Maddy Correa.
The eighth-grader’s photography is on display through the month of December at Arts of the Pamlico’s Turnage Theatre. Her work is not just of the point and shoot variety. Rather, it’s a process: taking several photos of a subject using different lenses and filters on her Canon Rebel T5 camera, then layering the photos to “make the color pop,” she said. Using programs such as Photoshop and Lightbox, she then manipulates the images to a range of realism — some have the more fluid look and lines of graphic design; others are colorfully real.
And most are very familiar.
“Most are local photography from mostly the downtown Washington area,” Maddy said. “I wanted to have items that people see every day and don’t even think about them twice, and take it from a different angle.”
An example would be a photo of the Havens Mill property, angled upward, the lines of the mill’s roof a stark contrast to an expanse of deep blue sky. Others capture doorways and windows of historic buildings and recognizable landmarks — with a twist.
Though young, Maddy has a long history with photography; she started taking photos when she was in first grade, when her family moved overseas to China for father Wayne Correa’s job.
“I just wanted to remember it all because it was so interesting to go from a small town of less than 10,000 to a city with over 2 million people,” Maddy said.
She said, at first, she wasn’t very good at taking pictures — at all.
“My mom’s head would be cut off; I’d have half my face in the picture. They were blurry and out of focus,” she laughed, adding it was time that gave her the opportunity to improve. “And I think this past year when I got an actual camera, I started trying harder. … The past three or four months is where I’ve actually known how to use my camera and know what I’m doing with it.”
The effort has paid off in an exhibit that speaks to an eye for photography, not the age of the photographer. Maddy’s work is for sale: prices range from $30 for an individual piece to $100 for four pieces, and $100 for larger, multi-photo works framed in windows.
The Turnage Theatre is located at 150 W. Main St., Washington.
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THE VIEW: Maddy Correa’s photographs are on display at the Turnage Theatre. (Vail Stewart Rumley/Daily News)