Trachtman's blurry, dreamy, layered images suggest movement as well as memory. In her "Now is Always" series, Trachtman mixes the past and present, layering her own photography onto her father's Depression-era negatives. Her father died in 1971, when Trachtman was 5. 

In her artist statement about "Now is Always," Trachtman says, "I want to create a feeling of collapsed-yet-expanded time. Yes, I want to see what my father saw, and yes, I want him to see what I see. But I also want the viewer to look at the past, and I want the past to look right back; I want the viewer and the subject to each feel the gaze of the other. And by combining images taken almost a century apart, I also want to seamlessly integrate layers of technology and image-making history: his 1930’s point-and-shoot, my iPhone, his silver-gelatin negatives, my Photoshop files, our shared sunlight and water, the traditions of ink, elbow grease, and an intaglio press." 

Trachtman's work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, as well as locally at the Vermont Center for Photography in Brattleboro, where she lives. She has also created original art and photomontage for film and TV set decoration, including the HBO Max reboot of "Gossip Girl." Her work inspired YWP's "Unleash Your Inner Artist" workshop in March 2023. 

Trachtman writes on her website, "Throughout my life, I have always taken pictures. Over time, it seemed that no matter what camera or film or printing process I used, all of my photos had the same transitory, dreamlike quality. As I’ve gotten older, I have come to realize that I have been taking pictures of the spaces between places—between here and there, between life and death, between sleep and waking. I think it is fitting that for the last few years my camera of choice has been a cell phone, a device that is in-between a telephone and a camera."

Find out more about Vaune Trachtman: https://www.vaune.net/

If you are inspired by this artist, respond to the challenge with your own creations!