I’ve been a big fan of Anne Berry’s wonderful work with animals and have been very remiss in featuring her work on Lenscratch. You may be familiar with her work with monkeys–images that are profound in their connection with the viewer. These photographs have such soulful power conveying the sadness of captivity and seem to reflect back something about ourselves.

Anne grew up in Atlanta, spending vacations and summers at Lake Burton, on the Flint River in Sumter Co., and on Georgia and South Carolina barrier islands. Her appreciation for places unspoiled by development is central to her vision. Also essential to an appreciation for animals. Anne photographs animals “to get people to truly look at them, to hear their inner sound, and to consider their value and their place in the world.” Thank you for that, Anne!

Anne has supported non profit organizations in three ways: by making a photo book for them to use as they wish, by licensing images at no cost, and by producing awareness raising gallery exhibits. She also has a long roster of awards, exhibitions, and published work, a reflection that she is doing something right.

Anne has a new series, EOH (Equine), that explores the lives of horses, that I am featuring below.

EOH (EQUINE): Wassily Kandinsky teaches that the artist has the ability to “realize the inner sound of things.” I listen for this sound when I photograph animals. People have lost an essential connection to the land and to animals. I photograph animals to remind the viewer of this bond. Because it exists so prominently in art, myth, and history, the horse more than any other animal has the power to stir memories of this important relationship.

The horses and donkeys in this series are in rural settings or roam freely as feral animals. The connection between the horse and the land is clear, and also evident is the animal/human relationship. Even if the horse is not gazing directly at the camera it is aware of the photographer. Capturing these images requires patience and understanding. I am close to the horse physically, and I have established a connection with it.

I hope by looking at these images the viewer will hear the inner melody of the horse. These lyrics ask the viewer to consider the animal’s place in the world, to do as Franz Marc instructs, to “contemplate the soul of the animal to divine its way of sight.”