Kimber Devaney paints with light
Kimber Devaney is a Brooklyn based photographer and artist. Her artistic breadth is extremely impressive, with photos ranging from introspective black and white studies to riotous bursts of color imagery.
See more of Kimber's work on instagram at @mybegonia
Kimber's website is kimberdevaney.com
A/A: How were these images created?
KD: These images were shot with a Yashica Dental Eye II camera using lomography 400 color film. The Yashica, which has a 55 mm F1:4 macro lens, I had purchased at a random thrift store on a whim and has become one of my favorite lenses.
Since I got back into film photography in 2020, I have shot double exposures almost exclusively; most of the time combining two very different environments to create a unique overlaying aesthetic. I will often shoot through 10-20 rolls of film before getting them developed. Because of that I, like the viewer, sometimes need to decode my images. For me, the images are new and surprising, yet rooted in past experience that often connect me to a deeper level.
A/A: What do you feel the role of abstraction is in photography?
KD: I consider photography as my primary tool to create art - in that I consider myself to be an artist as opposed to a photographer. That said, before the invention of photography, the study of fine art was primarily concerned with accurate, realistic depictions of the world. Artists use their materials to push the limits. Creating new worlds through ‘abstraction’ is a current and evolving style within contemporary fine art photography.
A/A: Why did you get interested in alternative processing?
KD: I believe film photography is magic that captures the pure essence of things. I enjoy the playful element of surprise that is present in film. Working with double exposure gives me the freedom to shoot freely without overthinking shots, letting the overlapping of images merge organically, creating their own unique pattern and structure. My most recent projects I am working on are souped film and ICM (intentional camera movement) or, how I tend to think of it, painting with light. I look forward to working with more alternative processes, old and new, in the future