Photographer Vivian Bedoya

Vivian Bedoya is a New Jersey based photographer who shoots purely for the freedom of expression it allows her and for the joy of getting close to nature and beauty. Vivian has shown her beautiful work around the "Garden State", including an art gallery, the New Jersey’s Somerset County Park Commission, and at a public library. She has published images online and print media as well.

One recent example is a photograph, "Portal", currently hanging in a gallery at the Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton, NJ which received a "Honorable Mention Award: Focus On Sculpture, 2009!"

During a recent park visit, Vivian was encouraged by an employee of the grounds to enter an image in their competition, "Focus on Sculpture." Vivian had exhibited work before, but she never considered entering a competition. Now came the arduous task of selecting the best image to submit for this contest.

"Choosing a subject for exhibition can be very difficult," she recently wrote. "It often comes down to trusting your intuition. For this competition, I chose three images, had them printed and framed, then compared the results. In the end, the choice I submitted was based on instinct. It was the one photo that had the elements they were looking for, it featured a detail of one of the works at the sculpture park and it also had something else, which at first seemed intangible. The park is known for its combination of man-made and natural art; it combines beautifully landscaped grounds and interesting pieces of sculpture of all styles into one cohesive and mutually enhancing whole. My photograph did the same. It showed the detail of the sculpture, through which could be seen a tree, blooming bright red with berries. I thought it was the perfect representation of the theme and my “critics” (family and one trusted friend) agreed."

With over 200 entries considered for this competition, only 33 were chosen for exhibition. Vivian said "I would have been happy with just having my photo hang in their gallery but I was elated when I was notified that it had won Honorable Mention. Along with a cash prize, a gift, a certificate, an artist’s reception and a three-month exhibition, it went beyond my wildest expectations."


She went on to say "There’s only one problem, though… how do I top that next year?"

I have no doubt Vivian's lovely work will be greatly admired and considered highly in next year's competition!

You can learn more about Vivian Bedoya and follow her work at the following links!

Vivian's Website
Flickr gallery
Wall Street Journal

All of the images included in this post were taken by Vivian Bedoya and are copyrighted © Vivian S. Bedoya.