Dede Pickering

My photographs are a bridge between cultures and express a universal human spirit while paralleling my own personal journey. A journey that opens the door to many diverse cultures. My camera has given me a way to relate to the world and new meaning to my travels.

I am motivated by my curiosity, sense of adventure and desire to explore the unknown. I was a traveler long before I was a photographer. Discovering the world has been a lifelong personal journey of soul-searching and self-discovery. Recording what I see has given me an increased empathy and connection to the world. I have found that I have so much in common with people of different cultures. The differences challenge me to see new possibilities within myself.

My interest in photography grew out of a sense of curiosity, awe and wonder. I wanted to record what I witnessed during my journeys to different cultures and more importantly what I felt while traveling our complex planet.

I have a newfound fascination for photographing the colors, patterns and shapes of ice and icebergs. I find myself teetering between the tips of the world with a curiosity that was once reserved for people and streets. The realm of ice is a mysterious world and one I can’t get out of my head. 

I couldn’t believe my eyes the first time I saw the alluvial fans in Iceland while flying above the earth in a helicopter. I was instantly drawn to the patterns, colors and mystery of how these fans were created. I was amazed at mother nature’s fabulous palette, it looked like the rivers were on fire. I became so immersed in the repetition, and design that I lost sense of any horizon. I felt dizzy but didn’t care because I felt I had entered another world. The alluvial fans were so unique from anything I had ever seen before. They resembled trees of life, or human veins, with so many elements colliding together. These braided glacial rivers of water, gravel, sand and sediment create islands and channels as they flow towards the sea. My eyes were opened to a new way of seeing and believing…from above.