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Exhibition Features Photography of Kate Cordsen '86

An exhibition of the photography of Kate Cordsen, of the Washington and Lee Class of 1986, is on display at the Lori Warner Gallery, in Chester, Conn.

The first woman to receive an undergraduate degree from W&L, Kate studied public policy at Georgetown and art history at Harvard and attended the International Center for Photography.

A successful commercial photographer, she has more recently focused on art photography. Her current exhibition, “Ravine,” displays the transcendent quality of her work.

A story about her exhibit in The Hartford Courant describes the painstaking process that she uses to get her images, spending days watching the water of a pond or the Connecticut River and taking notes before actually snapping a photograph: “When she is sure she has the exact time to take her picture, Cordsen shoots. Her photos are ethereal images shot into bodies of water to show not the natural world itself, but the natural world reflected by that water.”

Kate’s photographs are in private collections worldwide, and she has been published in regional, national and international publications.

According to the Courant review, “Ravine” is the latest in her exploration of distorting elements. She has also shot through antique glass and black linen and has created a “fog” series, plus a black-and-white series on sleepwalking.

She told the Courant that the goal is for viewers to question the nature of reality, adding: “All photographers are obsessed with the notion of photos and reality. But once a moment is captured, what have we captured? By the time that moment has been captured, it’s long gone. It’s not reality any more.”

You can see photos from “Ravine” online at the Lori Warner Gallery Website.

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