Madeleine Barbara

I love to shoot anything that is visually interesting. That includes a broad range of subjects including landscapes, macro, still life, and travel photography. I’m never totally sure what it is that attracts me to a subject, but I usually give myself time to figure out what it is that speaks to me. During this creative process I ask myself questions like, “what is really important in this frame?” or “What should I leave out?” In post processing, a host of new what-ifs crop up including: “is this a color photograph or would black and white work better?” These are timeless questions that photographers have always asked themselves. Sometimes, all the what-ifs work out to result in a great print!

In shooting “Emerging” during Mardi Gras in pre-pandemic Venice, I felt the irony of shooting ordinary people who are hiding their real selves and faces behind beautiful costumes and masks. In the course of two weeks, strangers reveal themselves. This resonated with me as I thought that in real life, the people we encounter wear no obvious masks. But we reveal ourselves to each other over time. Our faces are our masks and our actions define who we are.