Erin Derby

No. 119

2020

About the artist: Erin Derby (b.1975. San Jose, CA) graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara with a BA in both Film and Latin American & Iberian Studies. Her early career was primarily photojournalism. Over time she evolved a fine art cynosure balanced with considerable commercial photography success. In the latter, she continues to do portraiture, interiors and still-life work. Her early fine art work explored expired 4x5 polaroid and 35mm film, with its painterly quality. The strong imperfections of these aged mediums as well as their eroded hues communicated an ethereal quality to her botanical images. In her more recent work, “Reimagining Nature & The Nocturnals” and “Mythical”, she has returned to botanicals. Working digitally and with her unique mindfulness for lighting and detail, she builds wholly new imagery. These results are at once familiar and strikingly unfamiliar. Erin’s botanical photography celebrates the beauty, fragility, and vibrancy of nature, capturing fleeting moments of natural life in vivid detail. She aims to create timeless images that convey a sense of awe and wonder when interacting with the natural world. In her work Erin strives to evoke an emotional response from her audience by capturing the delicate, ever-changing beauty of botanical life. Erin’s recent work was awarded the 2020 Prix de la Photographie Paris Bronze award, and an AI-AP American Photography selected winner. Her commercial work is widely published, including Architectural Digest, Epoca Magazine, House Beautiful as well as commissions for Donna Karan, Herman Miller, Gensler, Duralee, and Michael Aram. Erin Derby lives in Brooklyn, NY.