Yard Work

This piece attempts to capture the essence of Spring: blue skies, the reemergence of green from the dormant forest, and other people doing yard work -- in this case, Daddy -- while one relaxes in the shade of the porch and takes pictures.

Taken 2007, April 21, 5:09:51 pm

Field of Balls

By way of a bona fide bounty of beach balls, a straighforward scene is transformed to a tableau of fantastic colour and shape.

Taken 2007, April 20, 11:42:25 am

Three Cars

The overexposed subjects in this photo set against a rich but grounded texture of stained wood elevate the already brightly-coloured plastic toys to the realm of animation, reflecting their origins and their capacity as vehicles both of and from the imaginary.

Taken 2007, April 19, 10:45:33 am

Meeting of the Feet

This piece tells a story. Whether the aggressive stance and dynamic but balanced composition tells of a confrontation or the soft textures and straightforward angles suggest an embrace is a question left to the reader, but one thing is certain: feet are an engaging and flexible subject around which much of Maeve's interest revolves.

Taken 2007, April 16, 6:59:12 pm

Jealousy

Maeve's equipment of choice is a Nikon Coolpix L11, replacing her first camera, a ancient film-based Olympus. The Nikon serves her purposes significantly better, especially as the Olympus never had any film (although it did make a cool film-advance sound). Nevertheless, the Nikon -- despite a striking resemblance -- is technologically inferior to Mommy and Daddy's Canon SD-800 (not to mention the 20Ds). Maeve never hints at being bothered by the difference, but the envy she hides is obvious in this deeply-felt piece, in which a slight overexposure gives the Canon an almost glowing aspect.

Taken 2007, April 16, 6:58:39 pm

Returning to the Scene of the Accident

This companion piece to "Scene of the Accident", taken only a few days later, uses a similar composition with new elements resembling a classic murder-mystery set piece to continue the theme and heighten the suspense -- or, perhaps, the satire.

Taken 2007, April 15, 5:48:36 pm

Traveling

When traveling by car, the feet become redundant. This is generally not considered one of Maeve's strongest works, but nonetheless does demonstrate the strength of her spirit of experimentation this early in her career.

Taken 2007, April 14, 8:17:08 pm

Fuzz and Fountain

Some interpret this piece as a comment on the role of authority in private enterprise, but most agree that the intention is a visual joke. The interplay of simple, straightforward textures -- the clean straight lines of the outdoor shopping center, the calm reflections, the random distribution of coins, and the corrosion of the fountain surface itself -- combine to form almost the feel of a hand-drawn cartoon.

Take 2007, April 14, 7:24:55 pm

Elephant and Balls

This companion piece to "Brown Elephant" illustrates, through a simple change in angle, the joy and, ultimately, life that may underly apparent chaos. The theme of "Brown Elephant", fiction, leads inexorably to the theme of "Elephant and Balls", namely the transformative power of perspective.

Taken: 2007, April 13, 6:04:48 pm

Brown Elephant

A constant point amidst a world of chaos, everything in this piece -- composition, cluttered foreground, depth of field, and even the innovative motion blur -- points to the solidity and permanence of a plastic toy elephant, speaking powerfully to the role of fiction in a confusing and confused world.

Taken 2007, April 13, 6:02:09 pm