Personal Information

Full Name

Toni Voelker

Artist Bio

I picked up photography at 18 and my earliest objects were flowers and insects. In time, my photographic interest ranged from landscape to portrait and closeups of plants and animals. For many years I used 35mm format SLRs. I started with black und white and enjoyed the “magical” darkroom process of transforming the negative into a finished print. Slides were my choice for color medium. More recently I have turned completely digital. The digital capture, together with image processing in the computer, followed by inkjet printing at home has been a dream come true: high quality prints created on my own!
I feel that my artistic and technical progress has dramatically accelerated in the last few years, thanks to the feedback and help from the community at Viewpoint. As a result my goals have shifted from “hunting and gathering” of images to the production of aesthetic and unique images, with which I am attempting to evoke strong emotions in the viewer. I am looking forward to the next steps in my evolution as a photographer.

Awards, Recognitions:
-Award of Excellence at the 2008 California State Fair
-Elected for Sacramento’s Public TV Station KVIE Fine Art Auction in 2008
-Award of Merit at the 2009 California State Fair

Portfolio Member of the Sacramento Viewpoint Photographic Gallery

I live and work in Davis

Artist Statement

Barbie: The Remains of the Play
This series is a colorful and unique 25-picture documentary of the imaginative and resourceful play of my daughter, Heidi. While she was growing up, she left Barbie in sometimes startling costumes, situations and places, and I secretly started photographing “on location”. After Heidi finally gave away her Barbies, I revealed the treasure trove to her. All scenes were photographed using equipment enabling extreme depth of field. At first glance, this often tricks the eye into seeing shots of a beautiful female human, only to discover on second look the actual scale.
Heidi and I are working on a book containing these images, each complemented by the words of the creator of the “scenes” and the photographer, to give the full story.

All images are signed 13x17 inches archival digital prints. Limited edition of 75 prints.
Signed prints: $180
Matted 20x24 inch, acid free: $200
Matted and framed (black metal): $250

History

Member for

16 years 9 months