It didn’t take long before her newfound love of birding, seeking out, identifying, and photographing different species, became a form of meditation.
In the bird images she began making, mystery, shadow, and blur became metaphors for prayer, possibility, and quiet transformation.
For her, birds have become symbols rather than subjects. Suspended in space and time, they appear sacred and mystical.
This ongoing project, as well as others she has worked on over the course of many decades, is centered on mindfulness, which requires patience and presence. It is a thoughtful approach that extends beyond her camera, lenses, and other technical tools and relies more heavily on her heart and intuition.
It has been easy, in recent years, to feel that life is spinning off its axis. Communing with these magnificent creatures always brings her back to center, to a long line of existence, of patterns and habits that have remained the same for centuries. The Sandhill Crane, for example, dates back at least 2 million years, possibly as many as 10 million. This bird’s complex behaviors have persisted throughout thousands of generations, something she finds deeply comforting.
She invites viewers to join her in this contemplative, quiet, dreamlike place. While there is certainly a sense of foreboding and darkness in this project, what she most hopes to convey is a sense of beauty, mystery, and, above all, hope. Hope in the unfolding of timeless wonder and unseen possibilities.
About Gloria Baker Feinstein
Gloria Baker Feinstein is a fine art and portrait photographer based in Portland, Oregon. She received her MA in Photography and Graphic Design from the University of Wisconsin and went on to establish a gallery for contemporary fine art photography in Kansas City, Missouri, in the 1990s.
Her work has been included in exhibitions across the United States and is held in the collections of the Portland Museum of Art, the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, the High Museum of Art, the University of Kentucky Art Museum, and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, among others. Her series Estate Sale was featured in The New York Times Lens blog.
Gloria’s photographs are published regularly in The Sun Magazine and New Letters Magazine. Her published book titles include From the Heart: A Mosaic of Memories, Among the Ashes, Convergence, and Kutuuka. I Hope You Find What You’re Looking For, her most recent book, was printed in 2020 by Verona Libri and includes poems by Oregon’s former Poet Laureate, Kim Stafford. [Official Website]
