The Center for Photographic Art is pleased to present nine contemporary photographers whose work was selected for its diverse array of photographic media, viewpoints, and content.

This exhibit presents a variety of approaches, formal attributes, techniques, and career positions. A common thread linking these exceptional image-makers is their successful ability to discover something unique and unexpected as they explore the medium of photography. They find it essential to regulate, interact with, and influence the photographic process and to interpret and actively interject their responses to the subject. The photographers in this unique exhibition allow the viewer access to something remarkable that could not be perceived or understood in another medium.

Ansel Adams and Edward Weston broke with the tradition before them; the profound element in their work was their remarkable innovation. With this exhibition we are returning to the tradition of innovation in photography.

How does the contemporary photographer create under the weight of what has come before, especially on California’s Monterey Peninsula? The need to make it new requires a search for a unique direction, which in turn requires the discovery of unexpected techniques, ideas and vision through which the artist gains new insight. The burden of the contemporary photographer is the imperative to disrupt convention and continue to evolve.

Claire Lerner was born and raised in New York, New York. She received her MFA and BFA in Fine Art Photography from the State University of New York at Buffalo. After graduate school Claire moved to California where she was a member of the photography faculty at Monterey Peninsula College, Monterey, California for ten years. For the past eleven years she has taught black and white and digital photography at the Santa Catalina School in Monterey, California. She has conducted many workshops on various photographic processes including Cabrillo Arts summer 2011 workshops. She is a member of the Society of Photographic Education and the National Art Educators Association.

Claire was a recipient of the First Place Award for her work in the Exemplary Contemporary exhibition, at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery, University of California, Santa Cruz, CA. She received the Award of Distinction from the Steinbeck Center, Salinas, CA. In 2008 her work was selected for a solo exhibition at the Smith Gallery, UCSC, California. Her work has been collected by a broad range of private and public institutions, including the Monterey Museum of Art, Visa Corporation, Redwood City, CA, Cowell College, UCSC, PMI, Corporate Headquarters, Walnut Creek, CA, and the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula, Monterey, CA.