Shayne Beschta, JUNE 2010
Artist of the Month Shayne Beschta took her first photography class as an undergraduate at Grinnell College in Iowa. She became serious about travel photography while living in Africa, where she spent several years photographing wildlife and capturing every-day life in remote, sub-Saharan villages. After becoming a mother her subject matter shifted, and she became interested in capturing the immense emotional range of infants and children. Having discovered that uncovering and photographing the unique spirit in every child requires an unobtrusive and patient photographer, she is now happiest capturing the natural beauty of children in outdoor settings.capturing the natural beauty of children in outdoor settings.
Zagreb, Croatia, is truly a city of angels. Angel statuary gleams from the tallest spires of the city’s great cathedrals and peers from dingy corners of graffitied buildings. Angels adorn ceilings, watch over fields, stand silent and solitary on wooded trails. Some are sheltered by grottos and shrines while others are left out in the weather, slick with rain or warming in the afternoon sun. Walking the streets of Zagreb, one gets used to living under their watchful gaze. Surrounded by so many angels, I found myself seeking out some of the more unusual statuary; the largest, the smallest, modern angels and angels of antiquity. I realized I was searching for the same elusive quality in these statues of stone, metal and concrete that I’ve always looked for as a portrait photographer; the moment when someone, caught unawares, lets a part of her life story illuminate her face. I wanted to photograph the private lives of angels.
