“Everything I wished to express felt personal and intimate. I wasn’t sure how I would use someone else to express my vision. As time went on, I developed a desire to fold others into my photography.”
~Jaeda DeWalt

Blissful Artographer
Dawn Bonner

Artist Jaeda DeWalt has a series of couples images which is wonderful for creating a romantic ambiance in the boudoir or anywhere you would like to make a statement that engages people.  The vision she puts within the frames of the lens are rich, lusty, thoughtful, fun, and ethereal sealed with passion.

Erotica

“When it comes to erotica, I put the emphasis on sensuality. I like to take the sensuality to the edge of what would be considered erotic but not quite go over that edge, perhaps just blur the line a bit. I like pushing boundaries without quite crossing them. I feel that the most erotic feeling to be experienced is that of anticipation. For me the image of two people just about to kiss, lips so close but not quite touching, faces tilted, eyes closed–is more tantalizing than an image of two people already engaged in a kiss. The suggestion of…is very stirring for me as opposed to portraying/photographing some act that is sexually explicit,” said DeWalt.

Her images are beautiful illustrations of this very ideal and it works, creating powerful and compelling images.  What is difficult to fathom is how she does this–how does she render these gorgeous visions with herself as one of the models?  To capture what she does is incredible, yet, when you realize these are self-portraits with another person she is in the frame with–it really blows the mind.  In an interview with DeWalt she shared some intimate details about herself and her process.   Let me introduce you to Jaeda DeWalt in her own words.

In Her Own Words

“There are times that I have an end result in mind. My ideas are planned out, well-crafted and defined. Other times the idea pops into my head and I will do a spontaneous photo-shoot and see what develops. Either way, the end result never matches my original imagery or vision, but it makes for a wonderful starting point.”

“When in the processing stage of an image it is a feeling I am chasing after. When I look at an image and it “feels right” I know I am done.”

“Inspiration comes from tapping into a source greater than myself. . .the universal thread. . .the collective consciousness. . .Spirit. . .God. . .LOVE–whatever you prefer to identify it as. It is the of opening/expanding. . .receiving of creative energy, surrendering to it, embracing it, channeling it, processing, expressing and outputting it through my unique personality and soul imprint.””I never suffer from a creative block because images, creative connections, words, and poems are spinning in my fast, hyper-active mind, 24/7. I do suffer from periods of depression, angst or high anxiety, at these times I lose my drive to create and will experience a block of inactivity. I don’t do anything to keep myself creatively charged, but I have observed that when I allow other people into my world, it becomes more high-stimulus and I, in-turn, more productive.”

More on Her Process

Like any photographer and artist, DeWalt has evolved with new tools, different processes, and techniques.  Where she is at currently is a beautiful thing and it is exciting to wonder where she evolves to next in her process.  When asked if she is a photographer or artist, this is what she shared.

She said, “Both. . .I consider myself a photographic/digital artist and Neographer. I started out doing traditional photography and then my father gave me a digital camera and introduced me to the wonders of Adobe Photoshop. I then fused digital and traditional together. Eventually, the digital camera and darkroom came to be my preferred way to create images.  .  .I don’t use 2 or 3-d rendering programs, vector graphics or a graphics tablet–just a standard mouse.  My techniques are more about using, images I photograph with a digital camera and layering, and/or modifying them.  There is a lot of refining, alternating, blending and manipulating involved in many of my more surreal and conceptual artography.”

An Illustrious Viewpoint

Her series have their own sense of self.  They don’t need stories to support them or a philosophical approach, they each speak in and of themselves.  Straight forward, simplistic, yet rich and lush, layered with enough room for your own interpretations.  Perhaps her viewpoint of life allows for this clean palette.

“I feel like a wanderer between worlds most of the time. One foot barely in reality and the other foot placed firmly in the land of dreams and nightmares. I think the starker more surreal aspects of my work appeal to me because these images mirror the way I experience my world. It is kind of stark, isolated, dreamlike, and marked with intense highs and lows. The images feel like the ethereal world, in which I choose to live,” she said.

DeWalt is also a writer, hence feeling like a neographer, be sure to check-out the books department where we are featuring her poetry along with MP3s if you would like to have her read poetry to you.

You can purchase DeWalt’s books on Blurb.

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