Betsy Cameron
Betsy Cameron is best known for her imagery of childhood.
Her interest started after the invasion of Cambodia, and the fall of the Pol Pot regime, when she was asked by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees to photograph unattached minors to help reunite them with their families. The experience changed her life. She came home to raise her own family, and her black-and-white image of her children on the beach, Two Children, became an international best-selling poster. Distinctive hand-painted posters, cards, calendars and books followed.
Eventually, Cameron transitioned from children to flowers. “Both subjects are incredibly beautiful, connected to a pure spirit, and have their own unique character,” says Cameron.
Cameron's images of flowers combine a scale and intimacy not seen since Georgia O’Keeffe paintings. “It may sound odd,” she says, “but I feel that the spirit of Georgia is with me when I work.”
Using neither a camera nor paintbrush, but subtly manipulating digital imagining techniques, which take weeks to apply, Cameron’s flower images are softly shaped and sharply detailed. They are feminine, yet bursting with color and energy.
Her latest photographic exploration focuses on water, “I feel grateful standing in front of the ocean, for its healing purity, natural beauty, and diverseness – a life force.”