Jessica Fridrich

Nighthawk

2017

Desert sky free of light pollution with minimal light scatter due to low humidity increases the contrast of the Milky Way against the ink-dark night sky. A dramatic sandstone formation resembling a hawk catching its prey is lit by a thin crescent Moon giving the foreground deep hues of red. (Little Finland, Nevada)

Jessica Fridrich was born in Ostrava in the Czech Republic to a family with a strong history and love and for the arts. While Fridrich ultimately pursued a career in science in engineering, her love of the fine arts and technical aspects of imaging have never been far behind. She is currently a tenured professor teaching in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering where she has made a name for herself as a leading expert in digital camera forensics and steganography which is the art and science of covert communication in digital images.

A 1993 cross-country trip with her spouse to the American Southwest ignited Fridrich's passion for the deserts and canyons of the colorful Colorado Plateau. The unique smell of wet sand after a storm, the bottomless deep night sky, and the distant howl of a coyote are permanently etched in her memory. Fridrich turns to the work of Michael Fatali and the books of Laurent Martres for inspiration and frequently returns to the Southwest to capture and share its atmosphere and timeless beauty through photography. This series celebrates the wilderness and the greatest artist of all, Nature.