Arts & Culture

Gerry Boretta is a photographic artist and a first-time exhibitor in the Richmond Arts Council’s annual show.

Photos by Gerry Boretta

Photographer inspired by contrast, emotion

By Hannah Scott, Local Journalism Initiative reporter

Published 1:04 PST, Tue December 8, 2020

Last Updated: 2:13 PDT, Wed May 12, 2021

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For photographic artist Gerry Boretta, the Midsummer Art’s Dream exhibition provided an opportunity to step out of her comfort zone—and display the photographs that consumed her time during the pandemic.

While exploring an old macro lens and photographing plants on her deck, Boretta thought about entering the Richmond Arts Council’s annual exhibition, which she knew of in advance.

“It kind of fit with COVID, the exploration and discovery of a new phase of photography,” she says. “I didn’t have a plan in my head, what I had was a direction I wanted to explore. I wanted to explore and come to a place where I was really in charge of what was sharp versus soft in images.”

Boretta joined her first photography club in 1999, but has been taking photos for more than 50 years. She says a workshop called ‘Your Creative Vision,’ which she took about five years ago, provided a lot of inspiration.

“That’s when I began to take art, rather than to just document reality with my camera,” she says. “In the workshop, I learned how to use the camera more like a brush.”

The contrast between light and dark provides Boretta with constant inspiration. And during the pandemic, she finds herself drawn to things that reflect COVID-19 or its impacts. She describes an experience sitting on bleachers by a baseball diamond, taking photographs through the gaps in a fence with an empty school in the background. Another day, she sat on one of the benches outside the cannery in Steveston, and was stunned by the emptiness of the streets around her.

“I’m finding that I’m being moved today by the changes that COVID has wrought, and by my sensibility about being trapped and buildings being vacant,” she says. “COVID has also trapped me on my balcony and made me see differently things that I normally look at.”

She entered three photographs in the exhibition, all a product of her exploratory process with her macro lens and dahlias: Just Starting, Surrounded By Summer and Summer Rainbow. The latter won second place in the exhibition’s photography category.

Since retirement, Boretta says growth has been a big part of her artistic process.

“I did a lot of learning, a lot of independent study in order to be able to answer the question: ‘What makes this a good picture?’,” she says.

While she always has questions about her photography, Boretta says she can now answer the question: ‘Why did you take this picture?’ about her own work. Now, she’s driven more by emotional response.

“I value what people say about my work, but now if I’ve created a piece that really moves me, I don’t care what anybody else thinks about it.”