Photographer Beamie Young Finds Beauty in Unexpected Places
Posted by Linda Atiyeh - July 15, 2015
Gallery 30’s newest artist is award-winning photographer Beamie Young. Beamie fell in love with photography the moment that she first picked up a camera, and she has now been creating fine art photographs for more than 30 years. Beamie lives in Dickerson, Maryland and works full-time as a graphic designer--a career that she says has helped to develop her ability to compose dynamic photographs.
BEAMIE’S TECHNIQUE
Beamie Young focuses on “capturing unique colors, patterns, reflections and light” in her landscapes, portraits and documentary photographs. She enjoys the challenges posed by new technological developments in photography, and digital techniques now play a dominant role in her work. Beamie shoots raw images with a Nikon D600 camera using polarizing and neutral density filters; she then edits the images using Lightroom and finishes the process with Photoshop. Many of Beamie’s images are High Dynamic Range images in which multiple exposures are compressed into one image, resulting in much more detail in the highlights and shadows.
ARTISTIC INFLUENCES AND INSPIRATION
The person who has most heavily influenced Beamie Young’s photography is her long-time mentor Mark Helfer. Mark is a US Navy-trained photographer who Beamie credits with teaching her “everything [she] knows about composition and film photography.” Beamie’s work has also been influenced by master photographers such as Alfred Stieglitz, Dorothea Lange, Ansel Adams, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Edward Weston, Arnold Newman, Yousuf Karsh and Clyde Butcher.
Rather than working out of a studio, Beamie’s favorite places to shoot are inside old abandoned buildings. She seeks out factories that have been closed for 20 years or more, and she often discovers that these abandoned buildings have remained just the way that they were when they shut their doors; old calendars are still hanging on the wall, people’s jackets and shoes are still there, a salt shaker is even left on a lunch table. Beamie never knows what treasures she might find, but there is always something unexpected to capture her imagination. Beamie finds beauty in textures that others might overlook, “from peeling paint and old rippled glass to cracked cement walls.”
ACCOLADES AND AWARDS
Beamie Young has taken part in several juried exhibitions including The Frederick Camera Clique 29th Annual Juried Summer Show in Frederick, Maryland and Maryland Federation of Art’s Show at Circle Gallery in Annapolis, Maryland. Beamie’s work was awarded Grand Champion in Ward Museum’s 2012 Art in Nature Photo Competition, First Place in B&W Frederick 28th Annual Regional Juried Summer Exhibition and Honorable Mention in FotoWeekDC 2014 Photography Competition, in addition to numerous other local and regional awards. Beamie is also a board member and the newsletter editor for the “Frederick Camera Clique” photography club in Frederick, Maryland.
Linda Atyeh: About the Author
The owner of Gallery 30 since 2007, Linda Atiyeh personally curates Gallery 30’s collection of American fine art and artisan crafts. Linda's inspired vision has empowered Gallery 30 to flourish, while remaining true to the beliefs central to its incredible longevity and success. Over the years, Linda has redefined Gallery 30's artisan craft collection to place a greater emphasis on Pennsylvania and Gettysburg related products, and she has personally selected Gallery 30's exquisite handcrafted jewelry collection - drawn from around the world. Under Linda Atiyeh's direction, Gallery 30 expanded from its original 3,000 square feet location to its new home, a 9,100-square-foot lovingly restored historic property at 26 York Street.
A native Pennsylvanian, Linda Atiyeh takes great pride in her community and is committed to giving back to the region. Linda is on the board of directors of the Adams County Arts Council and the Historic Gettysburg Adams County Preservation Society. She is also a member of Main Street Gettysburg, Gettysburg Area Retail Merchants Association, the Gettysburg Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen.
