Sherri Mabe is an infrared landscape photographer and a native Coloradan whose heritage connects her to both the historical settlers of Colorado and the Indigenous tribes of Colorado and New Mexico. After college graduation, she left Colorado to seek adventure, living in and exploring other states in the US, as well as Asia and Europe. She returned home to Colorado in 2009.
In the mid 1980’s, Sherri began her journey into photography via film and the darkroom while living in the Pacific Northwest. In 1996, after returning to college to study black and white film photography, she discovered Kodak’s HIE infrared film. Since that first introduction to HIE, infrared has become her dominant medium. In 2006, she moved into the digital world with her first converted camera, a Nikon D-90. Over the next ten years she purchased several more Nikon cameras and enrolled in a few photoshop courses, but is predominantly self taught in digital infrared. Sherri prefers the 720nm conversion due to its similarities in appearance to Kodak HIE. In 2016, she switched to the Sony mirrorless system (full frame) for increased contrast, sharpness, physical size and the ability to handhold.
“Sherri’s focus is on environmental, historical, and cultural documentation, and she’s drawn to capturing the whispers of the past. She believes that people want photography to evoke a memory, to touch their heart, or to instill a feeling of familiarity in their bones. A pensive, honest, silent photographer, Sherri enjoys the solitude of being alone anywhere in nature and letting her subjects present themselves, touching the land, and listening to ghosts dancing in the past. Infrared photography has given a voice to her vision, allowing her to share the unique way she connects with the land that she loves.” Cynthia Haynes, Senior Editor, Craft and Vision Magazine
Currently, Sherri is photographing the incredible vistas and historical landmarks of the American West. She prefers the prairie and desert environments for both personal and artistic reasons; although she does venture out into other locations in this beautiful world, both close to home and through travel. Infrared enhances the land the way it wants to be seen, both timeless and ethereal. Infrared photography illuminates the austere ruggedness of western scenes, the silence of the prairies, and the haunting vastness of deserts. And as someone who was grown in its soil and cultivated by its spirit, Sherri’s muse could never be anything else but the West.
To see more of Sherri’s art, visit her website (www.sherrimabeimages.com) or find her on Instagram (www.instagram.com/starlitwaltz).
