Linda Erf Swift

Personal Ad… in Living Color
color print
14 x 19 in.

Following careers in teaching, social work, and community activism, I have shifted both my focus and energy to photography. During the summer of 2003, while enrolled in a Platinum Palladium Photography Class as the School of the Art Institute, I was officially accepted into their Bachelor of Fine Arts degree program. This formal art-school training is adding theory and advanced technique to my years of independent work, both in the field and in the darkroom.

My social work background blends well with my interest in “street portraiture.” I have the social and professional skills to approach strangers and engage them in conversation while, at the same time, my camera is a key that helps to open many doors. For years I concentrated on photographing people in black and white. The heightened sense of experimentation stimulated by the School of the Art Institute’s environment has led me to color shooting and printing. With either format, I continue to be fascinated by the people I encounter in my pursuit of documentary portraiture.

© Linda Erf Swift