Although Kate Cordsen of Essex describes herself as a landscape photographer, she doesn't mean it in a literal sense. Nature, in every season, is a jumping off point for the fine art photographer —whether it's into a tiny pond or the deep green depths of a river. The natural world is simply where the magic begins, transformed by Cordsen's astonishing eye into images that are exquisitely ambiguous.

Cordsen began photographing her new series of mostly large works on the Ravine Trail in Lyme and it includes locations from Niantic to New York City. But Cordsen hesitates to identify these fascinating photographs by place — labeling them by number rather than title so that the physical site doesn't become a distraction from the work itself.

In one image, a young woman appears to be standing underwater on a brick wall, colorful lily pads and goldfish swirling all around her. Or perhaps we are underwater also, looking at her, while she looks back at us?

In another, raindrops splash and spiral into overlapping circles, creating an eye-pleasing pattern. Wait a minute; they aren't actually forming on the river but high above the water in the lush green trees and sky. How could this be?

These illusions are especially fascinating since photo manipulation is not in Corden's vocabulary as an artist.

"I don't want the viewer to feel tricked, but I do want to give the feeling of almost discomfort. What are you looking at?" she says. "So to that end, the images are almost entirely unedited (besides) standard cropping, dodging, burning. No photographer considers that editing. But I'm talking about really punching things up in Photoshop. I'm not doing that.

"Photographers are obsessed with the notion of reality, (but) does a photograph truly capture reality?" Cordsen asks.

"My take on that is what does the physical filter do to that moment in time that distorts reality?" she answers with another question. "And so, in my previous series of landscapes, I shot through things: pieces of antique textile, very early glass, colored glass — and that distorted the colors, the images, in a very dreamlike way. In this series, it is the puddles of water, the rivers, that bottle green color of a pond that is distorting the view, creating its own world. So that's the filter for this. That's where the essence is for me."

If there is one cohesive theme for this series, it's where land and water meet.

"All of these are reflections — literally — and where I end up spending time," Cordsen explains. "For example, I think a lot of landscape photographers love seascapes where you're on the beach and shooting out to the sea and there's a sense of the vastness of the sea, but there's no sense of the land, and I like the two meeting…"

An eye for art

Cordsen says her first real exposure to photography was her training as an art historian during graduate work at Harvard.

"I was looking at prints critically, so when I became a professional photographer a decade later, I really knew what a beautiful print was."

After her children (now teenagers) were born, Cordsen started a textile business with a factory in India, which she says she did with a fair amount of success for 14 years, and then the manufacturer went out of business.

"I knew I wanted to study photography, really just to take beautiful photographs of our children and our lives," she says.

She took a few courses at The International Center of Photography in Manhattan, and with the encouragement of her professors, began taking classes full time.

"I started getting gigs almost immediately as a commercial photographer, shooting interiors for a variety of magazine and campaigns," Cordsen says. "About six years ago that segued into fine art photography, shooting primarily landscapes and nudes. And only in the last few years have I stopped shooting commercial gigs altogether. I'm almost exclusively a landscape photographer."

Local inspiration

The impetus for much of Cordsen's work is right in her own backyard.

"The landscapes, in this area, are so gorgeous and so inspiring," she says. "It sounds trite, but I really have been everywhere in the world and I am more inspired here than anywhere. The river, the forest, is diverse and interesting and I think it's the light here, especially at 4:30 in the morning when the sun is coming up."

Cordsen's new series is currently on solo exhibition at the Lori Warner Gallery in Chester — a rare show for the photographer, who, for the most part, has chosen to sell privately to her established collector base.

"Lori does only one or two solo exhibits every year and I'm very pleased to be here—and fortunate—it's a great space and Lori has a tremendous eye," Cordsen says.

Warner, who is a mixed media artist and master printmaker, says of Cordsen's photography, "One of the reasons I was

really drawn to Kate's work is that it has the first glance

attraction, but then as you look into it, you notice all these details and that's always been important in my own work — to have the piece grow with you as it's in your home. And after a year living with one of Kate's works, you can walk by it and you'll see something new. That's rare in artwork. Especially landscape art."

"I think the word 'landscape' is really interesting," Cordsen says. "The field of landscape painting and photography is

ripe for reinvention. And I think, in some ways — I know it's a little lofty to say this — I'm reinventing the traditional landscape.

"My photography is getting progressively more abstract," she adds. "I'm attracted to that. Two years from now it's just going to be a blank piece of paper!"

But until that time, Cordsen will continue to use her camera and creativity to try to open up the world in magical and unexpected ways.

"Ravine" is at Lori Warner Gallery, 21 Main St. in Chester through Sept. 30. Warner and Cordsen will be donating a portion of the sales of two prints to the Connecticut River Museum and to the Lyme Land Trust. For more information, call 860-322-4265 or visit www.loriwarner.com