Debra Kayata earned her BFA at the School of Visual Arts. While studying fine art and illustration there, she never would have guessed that later in life she would become interested in digital photography as her medium of choice. As technology advanced, however, it became more and more compatible with her lifestyle, providing her with the ability to express her vision and grow as a fine artist without the confines of being in the studio daily. She participates in workshops, continuing educational courses at the International Center of Photography and the School of Visual Arts whenever possible.

Debra enjoys capturing all types of images, especially those from different places she has traveled, but her involvement with gardening over the last few years has fueled her appreciation for natural subjects, which she records under natural lighting and then enhances in the digital darkroom. She draws on the views found in nature, utilizing unusual perspectives, and abstracting the images to intrigue and lure the viewer in for a closer examination. Her photographs offer an exaggerated artistic interpretation resulting in a unique, computer-generated work. The character and identity of the subject might remain but in an enhanced form that removes it from the usual and commonplace. Bringing a fresh perspective to the ordinary while simplifying basic components and then reintroducing them with a heightened intensity is her fundamental challenge.

Presently, Debra is producing two series of images depicting nature:

The Garden Series is a collection of intimate views of flowers and foliage. The subjects are homegrown, making for more personal involvement in the process. Throughout the growing season and into the winter months, the landscape is captured in a way so as to provide the viewer with a renewed sense of discovery.

The Intense Preservation Series is also composed of homegrown flowers and foliage, but this series seeks to concentrate on the idea of beauty and its artificial preservation. In today’s society, to remain youthful and beautiful can become an obsession. The abstract images produced in this series are meant to provoke awareness in those struggling with the aging process, who are contemplating extremes to prevent the inevitable. Utilizing the universal symbol of beauty—a flower, which everyone realizes is short-lived—and covering it with plastic or other means of preserving its beauty, Debra illustrates how unnatural this behavior is. By showing studies in this altered state, she makes the point that the real beauty lies within and that this essence is what should be preserved.

Debra’s photography is a work in progress. With each new day, a new moment is created to be shared. She uses professional archival materials, including pigment inks, for her prints.