Shoutout Colorado, Meet Sherri Mabe
Shoutout Colorado, Sherri Mabe-Artist
Hi Sherri, how has your background shaped the person you are today?
Northern Colorado was home for my first 26 years, both my childhood and college years. I was born in Denver. Our family history dates back to the pioneers who settled on the eastern Colorado plains to become farmers, and also, to the Spanish settlers who migrated from the Santa Fe area to the San Luis Valley, becoming farmers and ranchers. During the 1930’s, my maternal grandmother was a school teacher in Garcia, Colorado, which is mostly a ghost town now. So, my family roots are deeply tied to Colorado.
Given my family history, I have an innate attachment to the land here in the West. During my childhood, I was given an immense amount of freedom to explore, especially while visiting my grandparents out on the prairie, and also, my other set of grandparents, who farmed along the Front Range. With that freedom, I developed an intense love of the land. I am most comfortable taking images out there. It touches something in my soul, a deep connection to times past exists there for me. The land knows me.
Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
The vision of my photography is to transform ordinary, and often overlooked landscapes, into ethereal images. The otherworldly appearance of invisible light, captured through infrared photography, provides the ideal qualities to express a dreamlike portrayal of the vistas that surround me. Becoming a fine art infrared photographer has been a long journey beginning in a darkroom and processing black and white film.
During my years studying photography, I was introduced to Kodak High-Speed Infrared film, and that was the moment I knew where I wanted to go with my work. At that time, infrared was not well known. It was a medium less seen in galleries. The 1990’s were also the beginnings of Photoshop, and the birth of digital cameras. Over the next 20 years, I purchased several cameras, as the technology improved.
My cameras were converted via Life Pixel, to a 720nm filter, in order to replicate the appearance of HIE film. While the camera was available, the knowledge of processing an IR image in Photoshop was less known. I continued taking courses in Photoshop to develop my unique process. Those years were a steep learning curve for me, and were also very lonely.
What really changed everything for my work was opening an account on Instagram, and seeing the infrared work of other photographers. I have to say, that was the best thing I did to enhance my work. Being able to talk to other photographers, who also loved infrared photography, it opened the gate for sharing technical and artistic information. Since then, I have met quite a few of those photographers, and we have even traveled together.
Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
One of my favorite locations, and usually on my route to Santa Fe, is the San Luis Valley. There is something magical about the landscape there at over 8000 feet. While there we’d visit the Great Sand Dunes, hike a few locations, probably Zapata Falls, photograph Mount Blanca, explore the Valley and have a green chili dinner at the Calvillo’s Mexican Restaurant in Alamosa.
After a several days would drive west through the Valley to Creede, on to Lake City and on to the Black Canyon for more hiking and photography. We most certainly would visit Crested Butte, and drive down to Buena Vista via the scenic Cottonwood Pass. We would have light dinner at the Wesley & Rose Lobby Bar, sitting outside sipping a a glass of Routestock Cabernet next to the Arkansas River, at the the Surf Hotel.
The next day, we would drive down to Salida for lunch at Amicas, a fantastic pizza/salad restaurant, and do a little shopping at YOLO’s, a favorite store for years. Afterwards we would head back to Colorado Springs to visit Garden of the Gods, and drive down to Roxborough State Park for more ancient rock formations. Then, we’d have a green chili dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant, Los Dos Potrillos in Littleton.
The next morning, we would drive up to Boulder to see the Flatirons, have brunch at the Buff, and then drive up to visit RMNP for a few days. Before we went home, I would stop in Denver at the Corinne Restaurant.
The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
During the mid 1990’s I was living in Tampa, Florida. That is when I decided to begin my quest to learn the history of photography, darkroom techniques, and everything else related. In 1996, I enrolled at a local college for Photography 101 course with Professor Suzanne Camp Crosby. Suzanne was a well known local photographer and educator, who was schooled under Jerry Uelsmann, thus her work had an unusual surrealistic quality. Surrealism was something that appealed to me, and is why I am an infrared photographer today. I remember vividly my churning stomach when I entered the classroom. As Suzanne was preparing her slides, I sat off to the side, hoping to blend in and go unnoticed. She walked over and introduced herself, and from that day forward we became close friends.
From my first critique, to her introducing me to infrared film, and many other alternative processes, to then becoming her student assistant, she mentored me. After I moved from Tampa, Suzanne followed my work and cheered me on. She was my one true thing, my mentor, and she gave me the gift of believing in myself as a fine art photographer. She passed several years ago, but I still hear her voice while out photographing or printing my images. Shoutout Colorado
