BETTIE COETZEE-LAMBRECHT

Capturing movement in all its varied forms, from reflections in pavement splashes, to feelings in people's facial and bodily expressions. I use a slow shutter speed and flash, in an attempt to test the expressive qualities of error in a search for meaning. Photography has become my main objective since 2009 when my interest shifted from photo-journalism to fine art photography.

Extract from Dr Elbé Coetsee’s opening address to the Launch of the photobook and concurrent solo-exhibition STILL/LIFE IN MOTION - a portrait of time passing by Bettie Coetzee Lambrecht:

The photographs included in this exhibition are testimony to the words of distinguished photographer, Ansel Adams who said, “You don’t take a photograph, you make it”. This exhibition comprises a fine selection of images from Bettie’s book, STILL/LIFE IN MOTION. It is an exploration of growing older youthfully. The images allude to our contradictory attitudes towards the natural forces of ageing - those in our physical environment and those of our physical bodies. We often experience the former with awe (see Protea), but the latter with discontent and fear. Bettie’s conceptual approach to subject matter and unusual camera techniques merge the juxtaposed. Older people dancing, having fun are photographed with slow shutter speed and different types of lighting. The result is extraordinary abstract & expressionist. See for example, “Twilight se voet”, Dance with my Shadow, Glove, Devil’s foot, Touch, Passion! Well-known photographer, Alfred Stieglitz said that, “In photography there is a reality so subtle that it becomes more real than reality”. Bettie, in this subtle manner you have captured images that reflect the joy, spontaneity, as well as the dignity and acceptance of growing older. I emphasize your message to your daughter, Liezl, and I quote from your book, “May she and all of her generation joyfully embrace each stage of growing older and cherish the wisdom it brings.”