Carol Brooks Parker took up photography as an artistic outlet when she and her husband acquired a cruising sailboat based in the South Pacific. As a result much of her work is oriented towards maritime subjects - seascapes, wildlife, even underwater photography as Carol is an advanced Scuba diver. But as a traveling photographer who has visited 18 countries in the past five years, she enjoys photographing whatever subject matter might present itself, although nature and wildlife are a priority.

"All it takes is one simple click to ‘take a picture’, a rectangle, destined to hang on the wall as a print or glow on a screen as a digital image or join a collection in a book. But as a photographer/artist I don’t want to just record a photograph. I want to create art, to meld technical material with creative insight, elevating that rectangle to a higher plane,” explains Carol.

Carol's finished photo-based artwork results from multiple technical choices made in-camera prior to pressing the shutter button. On the creative side choices incorporating composition, light, shadow, color, texture, gesture and motion, all contribute to the capture of the raw image, the first step.

Step two is the selection process that takes place in the digital darkroom (computer), reviewing and culling to find those select images that resonate with her imagination. The third phase is post-processing, the judicious application of a variety of digital darkroom tools – software and filters, layered and retouched by hand to manipulate the image into its final form.

Carol’s work has been exhibited in galleries across the United States, including the San Diego Museum of Natural History and the Agora Gallery in New York City.

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