Dora Somosi

I am a visual wanderer. My impressionistic imagery surfs an emotional riptide beneath which are the big existential questions. I photograph natural phenomena where the everyday meets the sublime: waves crashing, thick fog, the dome of treetops, saturated sunsets, the ever-expanding horizon. Central to my process is the expanding and reshaping of the photographic image.
The landscapes I photograph and interact with illuminate the quiet magnificence of our natural world. They capture scenes that might pass us by, unnoticed, uncelebrated. When I am outside hiking, walking, moving my body, I step beyond the weight of the world, the ticking of the clock… I am transported by the wonder of nature, grateful for its healing salve.
During the pandemic, having strict parameters forced a positive focus. As Covid continued, I felt the urgency to reflect the world back in a new way. This led to the pursuit of the cyanotype work that I made at The Penumbra Foundation. For this project, I am creating a cast of blue embedded in photographs of trees: the blue of moodiness, the blue of reverie, the blue of midnight, the blue of remembering, the blue of singing the blues, the blue of veins... In this limited color space, I see the temperature of what makes us alive and connects us. This is also the blue of the historic cyanotype, a blue that honors the early photographic process of the first photographer, Anna Atkins. I am using digital negatives with this historic process as this technique combines the excitement of early invention with current digital trends. The process is slow and labor intensive, drawing on the slowing-down of time that we have experienced this Pandemic.

My photography practice grew out of hikes with my youngest daughter, in the face of personal health difficulties; looking to nature as an appreciation of things larger than our individual selves. I began to work with the imagery, transforming it, to express the reverence and positivity that nature offered during a difficult time. This practice has grown into a space for learning and research, with emphasis on the conservation of our natural world. I seek to translate and communicate this awe and enjoyment, to focus the lens on what is certainly shifting and may be altogether one day lost.

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Dora Somosi is a Hungarian-American photographer living and working in Brooklyn and Old Chatham, NY. Her work has been shown with The International Center of Photography (ICP), Kraushaar1885 Gallery, NeueHouse, BRiC Arts, BAM Art, 3Wallsnyc, Blank Wall Gallery, Praise Shadows, The Landing, Main Street Gallery, Photoplace Gallery, Showfields, and ICFF. Her photographs have been printed with The Atlantic, Taschen, Cultured Magazine, The New York Times, T Magazine and InteriorDesign. Her works reside with notable New York and Los Angeles collectors and interior designers, including Trustees of the Brooklyn Museum, BRiC Arts, and the Brooklyn International Studio and Curatorial Program.

Somosi has received awards from the American Society of Magazine Editors (ASME), Society of Publication Designers (SPD), American Photography, Photo District News and Art Directors Club for her work as Director of Photography at Condé Nast and Hearst Publications (2004-2014), as well as an Emmy nomination for short form video content. She has collaborated with some of the leading editorial photographers and lectured at the International School of Photography, the School of Visual Arts and MassArt. She has served as the Vice President of The Society of Publications Designers, Visuals Director for Tatter, and Secretary of the Board of Directors for the W. Eugene Smith Fund for the advancement of humanistic photography. She consults buyers on emerging artists, and has curated benefit shows to raise money for various political and non profit causes.