About Sarah Fox

Sarah did her first photography at age 6 with a Brownie box camera she found in the attic. Almost all the shots were double-exposed, because she consistently forgot to wind the film between shots. Her parents soon gave her an Instamatic, which remedied that problem. At age 11, her mother taught her how to do basic darkroom work, using an antique enlarger. Sarah soon took over the utility room and enjoyed experimenting with cameras and photographic techniques.

At age 14, Sarah bought her first 35mm camera with her allowance money. It was a late 1960's vintage Honeywell H1 with a semiautomatic lens, and it had already been worn out through heavy use by a local news photographer. She eagerly bulk loaded the camera with Panatomic-X and recruited the minister across the street as a model for some double-exposure, trick photography. When she tried loading the 40 exposure roll onto the 24 exposure reel in her development tank, that's where she ran into a problem. Clumsily fumbling with the film in the dark, she managed to "make" it fit. Most of the pictures were ruined, but her "Ghost in Mourning" photo survived. She entered the photograph into a local contest and won 2nd place, competing against many local professional photographers and college art students. She bought a used 135mm lens with the $50 prize money (and also a bigger, better development tank!).

It was not long before a cousin of Sarah's noticed her keen interest in photography and mailed her three antique cameras. That seeded a parallel passion of hers -- camera collecting. Her collection includes countless cameras from the late 19th Century through modern times.

As a teen, Sarah photographed school plays and sold the pictures to the students. It was with this income that she was able to support her camera habit, including the purchase of a new Spotmatic F. She also provided most of the artwork for her school arts and literary magazine.

When Sarah went to college, she no longer had time for her pastimes, including photography and piano. This diversion lasted through graduate school, a short stint as a very stressed-out university professor, a prolonged and unsuccessful attempt to get funding for her research, and a nasty divorce. Two decades after she set her camera down, she returned to her passion for photography. Her old Spotmatic F was no longer functional, so she entered the age of digital photography, fascinated with the artistic freedom afforded by digital photo editing. Now Sarah is back, selling her photographic work once again.

Sarah's artistic interests have been varied, but generally have a very documentary flavor to them. Her greatest passion is in documenting cultures that may not be around much longer, moments in history that will soon pass, and social conditions that future generations might not understand. In the vein of Dorothea Lange, she has recently turned much of her attention to the current political, social, and economic challenges and issues of early 21st Century America life. These are difficult times, and someone must bear witness to it for future generations.

Sarah's fine arts portfolio focuses less on her documentary passions and more on her daily interactions in world around her. Her photography clearly reflects her love of life and nature. One will also note that she enjoys candid portraiture very much and that she strives to be a neutral observer. Her greatest talent in this area is a knack for making herself invisible to the subject and then capturing his or her true personality. Every portrait of hers is a character study.

Professionally, Sarah is a consummate technician. She will proudly tell you she has not yet learned all there is to know about photography, nor will she (or anyone else) ever reach that point. That is much of the appeal of photography to her: It is a very tasty blend of art and science. She continues to read, study, theorize, invent, and experiment with the craft on a daily basis.