Mary Lee Dereske Photography

A small girl, hearts on her shirt, sparkles on her shoes, runs through a surreal landscape in my image “Lost in a Black and White Dream”. I sat with this picture for a long time before deciding to strip away the color. The landscape is real – a highly imaginative creation for a children’s garden. A place of possibility, the garden asks the visitor to suspend reality and travel beneath the earth.

Like many photographers, I superimpose memories and project my own thoughts into what I choose to photograph.

So why this girl, this place? I was drawn to her energy and utter abandon as she ran through the underground maze. For one instant she was open to our view. When I looked at the photo later, I was reminded not only of being a young girl imagining other worlds, but also of dream states. I took away the color and knew this was the image to which I was drawn. It’s a pictorial allegory of struggling to find our way through the maze of life. Yet, I believe if we wear our heart on our shirt and run with sparkles on our shoes, we will have the energy and joy we need to do what we must, and dare to do what we dream.