New Albany woman's photography fosters connection with nature

Dec. 6—NEW ALBANY — Through her photography, New Albany's Heather Tisdale fosters a connection with nature; she hopes to do the same for people who view her art.

Tisdale, 39, entered the world of photography nearly two decades ago. While browsing the camera aisle at a Sears in Santa Cruz, California, Tisdale, decided to buy a Panasonic point-and-shoot camera. For years, she captured images of flowers, clouds, sunsets and anything else that caught her eye.

Later, while living in Austin, Texas, Tisdale developed an interest in film and enrolled in film photography classes that included dark room sessions.

"I joined the dark room co-op and started taking lots of photos with my film camera, getting to know it, learning the different settings," Tisdale said.

Deciding to branch out into digital photography, she bought a Canon Rebel and took a couple of classes as the Laguna Gloria art school in Austin to learn to use her camera's manual settings.

The California native has now lived in New Albany for three years and primarily takes photographs of wildflowers and other plants planted by her partner, Patrick Crider, on their property. She has also visited the Union County Heritage Museum and Tishomingo State Park for photo shoots.

A connection with her father and nature

As a child, Tisdale lived in California, Arizona, Idaho — and in Mississippi while her father, Robert Tisdale, earned a doctorate at Mississippi State University in Starkville.

He died when she was 16 years old, but to this day, she shoots photos with his old film camera and uses his camera strap.

While researching cameras, Tisdale came across the Canon AE-1 and remembered her dad had owned one.

Tisdale has always found herself drawn to flowers and nature, much like her father, an entomologist, did. Using his camera helps her maintain a connection through their shared interest.

"I can't ask him now, but I hope he was drawn to nature in the same way that I am," Tisdale said. "It was such an important part of his life."

Flowers are still her favorite subject, particularly dying or imperfect flowers. But it's not the flowers themselves she's drawn to, and she rarely goes out to shoot photos with a particular subject in mind. She just photographs things that capture her attention.

That's what initially drew her into photography.

"I would see something that moved me," Tisdale said. "I would see something that had something that drew me in that was unspoken. It wouldn't be like, 'Oh, I like the green color on that leaf.' It would be something that I couldn't describe, something that I would feel and then be like, 'I want to take a picture of that and try to capture it.' That's still how I choose my subject matter."

She often shoots photos with her camera's aperture wide open, creating a dreamy effect in the background.

"What I'm trying to capture is something that's not quite here," Tisdale said. "Like the flower is here, obviously, but there's something else going on that I think we all kind of see and feel in different ways. That's my aim."

She hopes viewers feel the way she does about the objects she's photographing as she does when she's shooting.

"Of course, it's going to be subjective, but I hope that they feel connected to that same thing, kind of that undercurrent that I think we're all a part of," Tisdale said.

Tisdale has a degree in nursing and currently works remotely for a hospital in Los Angeles, California. She plans to build her own darkroom for developing film by next summer and wants to return to school to earn a degree in photography.

She sold prints of her work for the first time at the Gumtree Art Festival in Tupelo earlier this year, and later at the Robins Street Art Stroll and the Secret Art Show. She plans to continue selling her work at local festivals in the future.

For now, readers can check out more of Tisdale's work at htisdale.com and @_htisdale_ on Instagram.