Deborah Y. Strauss has been involved with art her whole life. Though she works as a recognized veterinarian in her hometown of Lisbon, Iowa, Deborah always makes time to practice her art, as it is one of her greatest passions in life. As she grew older, Deborah’s desire to create beautiful works of art continually increased. Now, her talents reside in illustration, painting, and photography, two artistic niche’s she has been noted and awarded for throughout the years.
Graduating from Cornell College in Mt. Vernon, Iowa, Deborah Y. Strauss not only received a degree in Biology, but also a B.S.S. in Fine Art. Over the years, she has been accepted into various juried art shows and featured in many prominent galleries. Deborah works mainly in charcoal when she is illustrating and typically uses people in time period settings as her subject matter. When painting, she works mainly in watercolor, with impressionistic or abstract landscapes as her subject matter.
The above image of the woman is a piece of artwork that Deborah created by using pastels and charcoal. She would most likely be classified in women in time period settings from about the 1920s or the 1930s.
Photography is another art medium Deborah works with and is most proud of. She works with naturally occurring events and images in nature, or with whichever objects she encounters in a particular environment. Using naturally occurring light to fully accent what she is capturing, Deborah’s main subject matter are: spiritual photography, nature photography, photography of people, and winter photography.
Deborah Y. Strauss uses visual light and atmospheric effects in the surrounding environment when she takes her photographs for spiritual photography. The images of the statue of Christ on the cross is a very powerful spiritual image that Deborah was able to capture after taking about 300 shots in a row, waiting patiently for the perfect lighting. By doing so, she was able to capture a moment in nature and time, combined with a symbolic figure, that has resulted in an incredibly powerful spiritual representation of Christ on the cross. The camera used to take this particular photograph was a digital cannon power shot, which is a small camera that anyone can use. This goes to show that it is not the camera that creates a great shot, but the imagination, patience, thought, and artistic ability of the person behind the lens.
Deborah Y. Strauss has an extensive collection of nature photography, some of which is featured below. She uses naturally occurring events and all natural lighting and color schemes that are featured in these images, portraying beauty through reality – without any filters or photoshopped images.
Taking photographs of people is another sect of photography that Deborah has been recognized for. She always captures natural, unplanned events that aim to capture people in their true element and way of life. One Sunday, Deborah was two hours away from her home in Lisbon, when she realized she was in an Amish community that had just finished a worship ceremony. The photographs below depict aspects of the Amish community that many people do not get to see because their community is so secluded. You will notice that the faces are hidden in these photographs, which Deborah has done deliberately out of respect for the people in the Amish community.
Lastly, Deborah Y. Strauss enjoys winter photography, one of her favorite subject matters to shoot. Deborah loves capturing the feeling of Narnia and believes there is nothing more beautiful than woods filled with delicate, ice-coated trees. In Iowa, temperatures can reach -20 to -30 below zero on a consistent basis. With the combination of subzero weather, ice fog at night, and perfectly blue, sunny skies in the morning, rare images of ice coated on trees without being melted appear. Seeing the picturesque landscapes depicted in Deborah’s winter photography does not happen often. Deborah often focuses on the way the ice captures and reflects light, making her photographs aesthetically pleasing with a mystical feeling to them. You can view Deborah’s winter photography below.
