First Friday Santa Cruz

Find an Artist

Find an Artist

Heidi Montoya

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Mixed Media

"We leave something of ourselves behind when we leave a place, we stay there, even though we go away. And there are things in us that we can find again only by going back there." Pascal Mercier

My story began in the mountains of Colorado where I grew up surrounded by natural beauty. I picked up the camera as a teenager and have been taking photos ever since. I often find myself reflected back in the landscapes captured through my lens. Photography is my way of translating the world and it shapes the way I see it even now. My work has always included landscapes and that inevitable search for one's self.

I moved to California to be near the ocean and study at California College of the Arts. It was an interesting time to study this medium because it was the last days before digital. I was classically trained as a photographer but fell in love with the Polaroid Land Camera. Their plastic lenses lent a dreamy quality to the images. Much like these vintage cameras I've never been one to create a perfect photograph; I've always found beauty in the imperfections and believe it to be more like real life. Through digital I've found similar ways to shoot like the old days. The mood of an image is what I'm striving to create. These days you'll still find me out in the wild searching for those special areas that feel like home.