Loretta Alexandra@Gimati DesignWorks

With retirement, often comes the perk of having loads of undesignated hours, and Loretta, over recent years, has become increasingly open to untried ways of channeling her time, her artistic instincts, and expanding her skills. Her bent toward photography, a new creative avenue, was a natural, as it fit perfectly with another joy, traveling, which she loves to do with her daughter, Gitiim.

Photography

During four trips to Europe since 2011, Loretta documented her travels in well over 10,000 photographs, utilizing an easy point and shoot Sony camera and an iPhone. During the first trip alone, amassing a collection of 4,ooo-plus photos, the matter became, how to best show them to family and friends? What sprang to mind was to create a documentary video. And she did! The six month process entailed learning how to use the iDVD and iMovie apps on her iMac. The upshot was, Loretta created a two part, 4 disc video of visuals, written commentary, and a music soundtrack that completes the narrative, and ends when the scrolling screen credits fade to black to the tune of Gloomy Sunday, sung by Heather Nova.  

Down the road, the idea to set up a gallery website came to mind, as way to share her journeys with more friends, other travel buffs, and folks who enjoy photography exhibits.

About the new gallery:

Widening her viewing audience pushed Loretta to sharpen her photography skills. The importance of a more critical eye behind the camera lens was now apparent.  Approaching subjects as she would in her art studio, she decided, was the direction she wanted to go in. Elevated from simply being a means to document vacation trips, photography is her new medium for creative expression.

Shortly after accepting Alex Bustillo’s invitation to join his Traveling With Friends site, and show some of the photographs taken during her travels, Loretta decided to launch her new  photography gallery.