I will not be just a tourist in the world of images, just watching images passing by which
I cannot live in, make love to, possess as permanent sources of joy and ecstasy. –Anais Nin

There is a child who spends hours and days in the water. She floats, dives, and tumbles in waves. Water buffers life on land. It is instinctual, beyond words. She can breathe. She watches the way water softens and stills the way rays of light play through the surface. She leaves the water at the end of every summer and when she grows old enough, she leaves for good. She moves off into the world with its demands for words and explainations. Years later, ahe finds herself lost in adulthood, someone suggests she returns to the thing she loved and gave up earlier in life. She picked up a camera and pressed it to her face. She walked through the world noticing patterns, light and textures. Things were softened and stilled. Time and the pesky whirring of her mind slowed. The need for words droped away. She could breathe. Things call to her, touch her,. "Hotels rooms, people, spools of thread, flowers, tables . . . they have an perspective, an  experience, they have stories - the light changes, the wind blows, there are marks.  Her work has been described as lyrical, poetic, abstract, narrative, painterly . . .

There is a hospital, a clinical social worker and many people with thoughts and stories that need mending. She listens to their words, words that describe suffering and the desire for relief. They have questions that want answers, stories that hope for resolution. It is easy to become mesmerized by the need. She presses a camera to her face, the words and suffering are transformed into images and writing.

Steffanie lives in Portland, Maine with her beloved dog, The Biscuit. She practices as a photographer and clinical social worker.

Her images are available for sale as prints or can be licensed. She accepts commissions . Please contact her at steffanie@steffanieohanlon.com