Baker Artist Portfolios

As an aerial photographer piloting my own small airplane throughout the Mid-Atlantic Region, I seek to create the impressions of paintings from the altered landscapes of coal mining and quarried areas, as well as the natural, primitive beauty of the lower Eastern Shore coastal zones. Often in these places I find anthropomorphic figures and spiritual symbols and imagery which inform the narratives of my photographs. My aerial photographs came to embody what I termed “Third Spaces”, between the abstract and the representational, and which was the title of my solo exhibition at the Creative Alliance.

In 2023 I discovered the island of Cuba and began making underwater photographs while snorkeling and scuba diving. The undersea realms hold a fantastic visual world of shapes, forms and textures which are both similar to and extraordinarily different to the terrestrial world. I have returned to Cuba many times to explore and learn about the coral reefs and marine life. As the language of my experiences in Cuba is Spanish, I use the term “fotografía submarina” to define my work, and have exhibited them as a series entitled “Coral Gardens of Cuba".

In both my aerial and underwater photography I approach my subjects primarily as an artist. But my work has also become a process of research about the history, culture, geography and environmental issues of the Pennsylvania Coal Region, as well as the beauty and diversity of coral reef ecosystems, and the importance of their preservation.