I grew up with a father who always had some kind of camera with him and I was thrilled when I got my own little Brownie, so very long ago. I began taking photos more deliberately after college, over 45 years ago, originally working with film cameras but fully embracing digital photography in 2005. I was an early member of the photo sharing site, Flickr, and, as a discipline, I have posted roughly 1 photo a day to my Flickr photo stream since 2005. I also write short vignettes to accompany many of my photos, my way of blending visual and verbal imagery.
I am not particularly concerned with depicting razor-sharp details in my photographs. Rather, I want to feel in them the weight of the air on foggy mornings, the liquidity of light bathing objects on a windowsill, the mystery of silhouettes in the night. Most of all I want the mood of the moment to pervade the frame, overwhelming form and time. I want to stalk the world like those who would catch the wonder of gorillas at play in the mist, and I peer through wet windows, from under awnings, and into darkened rooms. I seek the colors that glow just before the shadows and at the edge of light, those deep, rich colors used by the old-world painters.
I’ve retired from a career as an academic research scientist studying sleep and circadian rhythms and I’m now free to focus on curating and showing my photographic works. The most influential photographers for me have been those like Saul Leiter and Josef Sudek who portrayed light and form with subtlety and ambiguity.
Both my science and my photography required me to develop and hone my abilities to observe, be it patterns of behavior, patterns of light and dark, the detail of a caterpillar’s skin, or the stretch of a mountain range below storm clouds. Both science and photography have also shown me that space where intensity of focus puts me squarely in the present moment and utterly involved with the object of that focus. The thrill of inhabiting that space is, ultimately, why I am a photographer.
I use all kinds of cameras and lenses, sometimes even shooting through the viewfinders of old twin lens reflex cameras. I use wet, frosted, and dirty windows as extensions of my camera’s lenses. I find my subjects everywhere, in the forests, swamps, cities, gardens, and alleys. I'm not a purist and alter my photos every chance I get. I figure the first alteration to the scene comes when I pull out my camera and choose my frame. The second one comes when I choose the settings. It's all down- or up-hill from there. If I’ve found atmosphere and mood, I am pleased.
Here’s a link to a very nice review of my work by a photographer friend:
http://timconnor.blogspot.com/2009/02/christine-acebo-going-meta-at-met.html
My resume to date is below.
Christine Acebo
Photography Resume
Websites
Personal Photography Website: https://www.christineacebo.com/
Blog Review
http://timconnor.blogspot.com/2009/02/christine-acebo-going-meta-at-met.html
Memberships
Ashford Arts Council: Member, 2018 to present.
Leader, Digital Photography Workshop, June 13, 2019
Quiet Corner Camera Club: Member, October 2019 to present:
Co-President, July 2021 to present
Arts Center East; Signature Member, February 2020 to present
Connecticut Women Artists; Elected Member, October 2020 to present
Awards
1. People’s Choice Award, Mansfield Arts Advisory Committee, Mansfield Community Center, Mansfield CT, First Mansfield Area Juried Art Show, Spring 2019.
2. Honorable Mention, Arts Center East, Vernon CT, 8th Annual Photography Exhibit, Feb. 24 - Mar. 14, 2020.
3. First Place Award, Mansfield Arts Advisory Committee, Mansfield Community Center, Mansfield CT, 2nd Mansfield Area Juried Art Show, Spring 2020.
4. Honorable Mention, Arts Center East, Vernon CT, Tables and Toasts Exhibit, Nov. 6-28, 2020.
5. Certificate of Merit, Salmagundi Club, New York NY, Figuratively Speaking Open Juried Exhibition, Feb 2-Feb. 19, 2021.
6. Council Award, Connecticut Women Artists, Members’ Juried Show, April 17-May14, 2021.
Photos licensed for publication or use
1. New Snow, Published in "Digital Portrait Photography and Lighting" by Catherine Jamieson, Wiley, 2006.
2. Remembering William Carlos Williams, Photo licensed for use in a College Literature Web Workshop for Intro to Literature, 10th Ed. by Alison Booth & Kelly Mays, WW Norton & Co.
3. Metropolitan Museum of Art, photo licensed for use in 2010 Ad campaign “It’s Time We Met.”
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lightlypaintedpixels/5109192806/in/album-72157707364555205/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lightlypaintedpixels/211711885/in/album-72157707364555205/
4. Metropolitan Museum of Art, photo licensed for use on the Museum’s home page, Dec. 21, 2010 to Sept 25, 2011
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lightlypaintedpixels/47381736421/in/album-72157707364555205/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lightlypaintedpixels/209779246/in/album-72157707364555205/
Exhibited in Juried Shows
1. The Fairfield Museum and History Center, Fairfield CT, IMAGES 2014, Sixth Annual Juried Photography Show, Spring 2014, 3 photos selected
2. The Fairfield Museum and History Center, Fairfield CT, IMAGES 2015, Seventh Annual Juried Photography Show, Spring 2015, 1 photo selected
3. The Fairfield Museum and History Center, Fairfield CT, IMAGES 2017, Ninth Annual Juried Photography Show, Spring 2017, 1 photo selected
4. The Fairfield Museum and History Center, Fairfield CT, IMAGES 2018, Tenth Annual Juried Photography Show, Spring 2018, 1 photo selected (47 photos selected out of over 700 entries).
5. The Fairfield Museum and History Center, Fairfield CT, IMAGES 2019, Eleventh Annual Juried Photography Show, Spring 2019, 1 photo selected (40 photos selected out of over 500 entries).
6. Mansfield CT Arts Advisory Committee, Mansfield Community Center, Mansfield CT, First Mansfield Area Juried Art Show, Spring 2019, 1 photo selected.
7. Salmagundi Club, New York, NY, 41st Annual Open Exhibition in Photography, July 15- August 2, 2019, 2 photos selected.
8. Arts Center East, Vernon CT, 8th Annual Photography Exhibit, Feb. 24 - Mar. 14, 2020, 3 photos chosen (90 photos chosen from over 200 entries)
9. Mansfield CT Arts Advisory Committee, Mansfield Community Center, Mansfield CT, Second Mansfield Area Juried Art Show, Spring 2020, 2 photos chosen.
10. Arts Center East, Vernon, CT, New England Charm Juried Exhibit, June 7 - 27, 2020, 3 photos selected
11. Arts Center East, Vernon CT, Flora and Fauna Juried Exhibit, July 19 - August 15, 2020, 3 photos selected.
12. Arts Center East, Vernon CT, Coping Juried Exhibit, Sept. 4-27, 2020, 2 photos selected.
13. Arts Center East, Vernon CT, Tables and Toasts Exhibit, Nov. 6-28, 2020, 3 photos selected:
14. Connecticut Women Artists, 2020 Online Open Juried Exhibition, Oct. 28-Nov. 30, 2020, 1 work selected:
15. Salmagundi Club, New York, NY, 42nd Annual Open Exhibition in Photography, Nov. 10-20, 2020, 1 photo selected.
16. Arts Center East, Vernon CT, 9th Annual Juried Photography Show, Jan. 15 - Feb 6, 2021, 3 photos selected.
17. Salmagundi Club, New York, NY, Figuratively Speaking Open Juried Exhibition, Feb 2 - Feb. 19, 2021, 2 photos selected.
18. Arts Center East, Vernon CT, In Bloom Juried Show, March 26-April 17, 2021, 3 photos selected
18. Connecticut Women Artists, Art League of New Britain, New Britain CT, Members’ Juried Show, April 17-May14, 2021, 1 photo selected.
19. New Haven Paint and Clay Club, Ely Center of Contemporary Arts, New Haven CT, 120th Annual Juried Art Exhibition, May 3-30, 2021, 1 photo selected.
20. Salmagundi Club, New York NY, Open Juried Cityscapes Exhibition, June 6-24, 2021, 2 photos selected
21. Salmagundi Club, New York NY, 2021 Open Juried Photography Exhibition, July 26-Aug. 6, 2021, 3 photos selected.
22. Connecticut Women Artists, Arts Center East, Vernon CT, National Open Juried Exhibit, Aug. 21-Sept. 10, 2021, 1 photo selected.
23. Arts Center East, Vernon CT, Open and Shut Juried Show, Dec. 2-Dec. 18, 2021, 2 photos selected.
24. Salmagundi Club, New York, NY, Figuratively Speaking, An Exhibition of Portraiture and Figurative Art, Feb. 2-19, 2022, 1 photo selected.
25. Arts Center East, Vernon CT. 10th Annual Juried Photography Exhibit, Jan. 8-29, 2022, 3 photos selected.
Photos Published
Neighbors Newspaper (archives available online: http://neighborspaper.com/ )
Neighbors Paper, February 2019, cover photograph.
Neighbors Paper, March 2019, cover photograph; photo and story.
Neighbors Paper, April 2019, 3 back cover photographs; photo and story.
Neighbors Paper, June 2019, photo and story.
Neighbors Paper, July 2019, photo and story.
Neighbors Paper, September 2019.
Neighbors Paper, October 2019, photo and story
Neighbors Paper, February 2020, photo.
Neighbors Paper, June 2020, photo.
Neighbors Paper, September 2020, 2 photos and story.
Neighbors Paper, December 2020, 2 photos.
Neighbors Paper, January 2021, 2 photos
Neighbors Paper, October 2021, cover photo
Education
A.B. Political Science, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY
M.A. Developmental Psychology, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY
Ph.D. Biobehavioral Sciences, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT