Marie-Dominique Verdier
Sandpoint, ID - United States
Marie-Dominique Verdier - Fine Artist
Member Since: 12/13/2008
When I was a child growing up in Southern France, it never occurred to me that I would ever become a professional photographer. I was definitely drawn to photography and took every opportunity to use my father's camera, but I didn't fathom that it could be a real job - it was too much fun. So I followed the path towards a 'serious' career, earning a master's degree in business. However, right after graduation things took an unexpected turn. My first job as a logs inspector for a French company got me to travel extensively in the US. I fell in love there, and eventually settled in New Orleans in 1991. I then held various jobs, including booking and managing musicians, and public relations attaché at the French Consulate for 6 years. At the same time, I was becoming passionate about photography, taking mostly black and white pictures of musicians and doing 'street' photography. Without any formal training but with the help of my mentor, Allen Steinman, I learned to process films and develop my own pictures. Several exhibits in Louisiana and France followed, first showing black and white pictures, then sharing my 'New Orleans Walls' series in 1994 - my first exploration of color (revived in 2008, the series is now a book entitled 'New Orleans Walls: Still Standing' that features Fats Domino, Drew Brees, Charmaine Neville, and many other New Orleanians: NewOrleansWalls.com).
Yearning for the small town lifestyle, my family moved in 2000 from New Orleans to Sandpoint, Idaho. This marked the end of my darkroom years. I turned to digital photography, doing mostly portraits (SandpointPhoto.com) and showing fine art images through the Pend Oreille Arts Alliance on a regular basis. At that point, I finally realized that I could embrace photography professionally. My work has appeared in several magazines and newspapers in France, Louisiana and Idaho, and since 2007, I have been a regular contributor to Sandpoint Magazine.
Architectural photography came accidentally in 2007, when I accepted an assignment purely as a learning experience. I became fascinated with the subject and its challenges, and have since carried out many more architectural assignments with increased pleasure and satisfaction as I fine tune this type of photography.
www.MDVphoto.com and www.facebook.com/MDVphoto
