The photographs of a Winlock artist stand as testament to the beauty of life around us — and of the inherent value of life itself.
The framed photos taken by Linda Shepherd, a peace-loving nation of one, cause viewers to pause and consider their own world view. Her compositions are focused primarily on respect for the natural world and goodwill toward other humans.
She has also created a photographic series honoring those creatures which have been killed on the road.
“A friend once told me there is a life to be had in photography, and there is,” Shepherd said. “You just have to open your eyes and see it.”
A self-taught photographer and illustrator, Shepherd uses a Nikon 7100 camera she has had for 10 years and outfitted it with professional lenses. She has a dark room at home in Winlock, where she has lived since 1977 with her husband, Ric, a retired dentist.
The gift of a Brownie camera capable of black and white images when Linda was a child resulted in a lifelong interest in exploring photography from all angles.
“I may have taken the first selfie that ever existed,” she said.
Shepherd’s photos depict the details often passed by — ivy creeping through a rustic gate, a fern uncoiling under a tree or the streaks of color at the edge of the sky.
Many of Shepherd’s artworks contain her collaged photos and inspiring quotes, such as “There’s a garden hidden in your heart; open the gate” or “Be nice to your mother; she made you.”
During morning walks in Winlock in recent years, Shepherd said she started noticing animals that had been run over by vehicles while trying to cross the road. She felt compassion for these many lost lives and began taking photos of them.
“I’d see others’ photographs of animals that were left on the road, and they often seemed grotesque or very bloody. Even the word ‘roadkill’ turns people off,” Shepherd said. “Instead, I call them fallen animals.”
Shepherd’s sensitive art featuring fallen animals consists of photos taken from just the right angle — often at eye and pavement level — overlaid with carefully placed graphic art depicting the bird or animal’s meandering footprints.
The photos serve as a quiet memorial honoring the life that once lived.
“I like to think of their footprints as symbolizing the animal’s path to heaven,” Shepherd said.
She noted that numerous studies show that each year more than 3 million animals die in collisions with vehicles, adding that in recent years culverts and overpasses have been installed in some areas as alternative routes for animals’ pathways to prevent collisions with highway traffic.
“I thought, why not share these photos with other people as a poignant statement to help create awareness as something that should be considered?” Shepherd said.
A young bicyclist once stopped while she was taking a fallen animal photo and asked what she was doing, and then casually rode off. Another time a woman came out from a house and asked Shepherd if she had run over the animal herself. Passersby in vehicles often slow to watch the photographer at work before a road crew appears, but they rarely stop.
“A Hard Road Passing” is the title of the collection of fallen animal images. Shepherd’s artist statement for the collection states, “We are moving through a landscape from which we are increasingly disconnected, even before it became possible to carry a virtual world in our pockets.
“This series invites you to consider the beauty, pain and possibilities inherent in everything actual, to gaze upon and consider the reality many would rather not see. Without such consideration, I fear we will lose our way on the very earth beneath our feet.”
“We all just want to live our lives in peace,” Shepherd said, “but we’re divided by the narratives we’re given. I hope my photos help viewers to value the connections we have with each other and our time on this earth.”
Shepherd prints her images in the giclée method, a word derived from the French term for squirt. It indicates a fine art print created using a high resolution inkjet printer, pigmented ink, and acid free archival paper, which gives the artwork a lifespan of a few centuries.
Her work can be seen in Toledo at Gallery 505 year round and at the Steamboat Landing center during the regional ARTrails studio tours in late September.
Learn more online at https://www.artrailsofsww.org/user/linda.shepherd/.
