I grew up in a small town in Kansas where my parents owned the family funeral home. They instilled in me a deep respect for others that I still have today. Going out to the cemetery was a normal part of my life. As a child, my hometown celebrated "Decoration Day", and people would come home from far away to put flags and flowers on graves. The cemetery was very simple, with clean, plain head stones, out in the country and lined with cedar trees to block the wind.
Several years ago I passed a cemetery in Georgia and saw a marble Angel standing there. It called to me, causing me to pause and go home again. Since then, I have visited over 600 cemeteries finding peace, solitude, beauty, and hope.
I earned my BFA in
Photography with a minor in Art History from the University of Hawaii. I had
tried painting, pottery and sculpture but found all of them too slow in the
creative process. Photography filled that immediate creative urge with a
click of the shutter, and the darkroom work was magic.
Later I came to realize that I was a frustrated painter. My inner eye would
see something one way but the camera lens saw it differently. This was
especially true when I started concentrating on my current work and would
wander around old cemeteries. Feelings would surround me, but I couldn’t
capture them on film. Now with the digital darkroom, I can finally open the
door and let my inner eye show you what’s been kept inside all these years.
The digital darkroom is more challenging then a traditional darkroom since
more options are available. I play. And I play again.
I hope you enjoy my
work.
Conny L. Dempsey
