Shutterbug Judith Eastburn opens photo exhibit

Judith Eastburn's professional path led her to fruit flies and cockroaches, but her passion for photography found her traveling down the road to becoming a professional artist.

Born in 1944, Eastburn shot photos with a box camera as a youth and tinkered with videos and photography in high school and college. But she earned a degree in zoology at the University of Iowa, followed by a MASTER'S DEGREE IN microbiology.

For one of her elective courses, Eastburn chose photography — and fell in love.

"Back in the '60s, women were encouraged to go into math and science," she said. "When I had to take a couple of classes outside my field, I took a wonderful course in Southern women writers, then took the one in photography and realized that I should've been doing that all along. It was an 'a ha' moment."

But Eastburn turned to teaching microbiology at the University of Alabama and worked in labs there and in Iowa City, studying the fruit fly populations, cockroach nerve growth and corn photosynthesis.

She decided to seriously pursue photography and simultaneously enrolled part-time in the University of Iowa's art department, where she earned A MASTER'S DEGREE. She also holds a teaching certificate for art in primary and secondary schools and has enjoyed teaching all ages, from the university down to lower elementary students.

"I would give them 35 mm cameras and tell them to shoot things that appealed to them," she said. "They also did a great JOB."

Tom Perrine, owner of Frame Works, described Eastburn as "an amazing artist."

"She's one of those few photographers that still shoots on film, and she develops her own prints in the darkroom," Perrine said. "I'm so impressed that she CONTINUESto do that today. We love supporting the local artists, and every month we're looking for new artists."

Eastburn, who lives in Des Moines, said she was excited when Perrine approached her about being exhibited at his shop.

"He's a great framer. It sounds like a wonderful place to show my work," she said. "He's a great supporter of the arts and when he's presented with a piece of artwork to frame, he really turns it into something special."

Fans of Eastburn's work would say her black and white photographs are INDEEDsomething special.

She uses a 35 mm camera and develops the film herself.

"I love that if you put in a roll of film, you have 12 shots on that role, so you'd better think about the composition and the settings, because you don't want to shoot beyond your budget," she said. "It requires you to think more critically and carefully. There's a neat anticipation of not knowing if what I shot turned out until I see it in the dark room."

via: The Desmoines Register