Alice Merkel Brings Photo Talents Into the Light

Alice Merkel displays her first collection of 30 photographs titled Documenting Light at the Solon Center for the Arts Gallery.

Merkel, a graduate of Chagrin Falls High School and soon to be attending the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York for photojournalism, said she is proud to finally see her art displayed on walls.

The photographs in Documenting Light show Merkel’s keen eye for spotting great beauty in everyday scenes. She said she finds most of her photographs by being aware of her surroundings. She admits, though, that new environments are critical for fostering her creative talents.

Most of her photos are locally shot in Chagrin Falls or Cleveland, while others were taken while traveling to Chicago and California during family visits.

Merkel chose Color Span as her favorite photograph. It depicts a leaf in a very odd perspective. The photograph is equipped with an array of colors: Blacks, oranges, browns, blues, and yellows that combine and pull the viewer’s eye through the photograph.

Color Fence takes the viewer on a journey down a tunnel of repeating chain-link squares. On the way, the viewer meets blades of grass, a rusted chain, and a pile of old crunchy dried leaves that leads the eye to the converging point, in the upper middle of the photograph.  

Merkel said her inspiration comes from the idea that “in every environment someone has done something and then someone else comes along and changes it slightly.”  The photos are “documenting what people have left, or what they are still living in, or what is presently there that we are observing.”

Come check out her photographs and get a chance to meet and speak with photographer Alice Merkel at 6 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. Friday at the Solon Center for the Arts.

Documenting Light will be available for viewing in the gallery until April 8.