Miami Color Theory
Laura Paresky Gould says photography is meditation with your eyes open.
In the early stages of the COVID 19 pandemic, some of us became bakers, runners, Netflix bingers. Laura Paresky Gould MAT 91 began looking at the colors of Miami, where the graphic designer, ani-mator, photographer and fine artist currently lives, for inspiration.
Walking the streets with her iPhone, Gould documented the bright hues and shades that dominate the architecture and sky of this subtropical city. This photographic trip through the streets of Miami turned into a meditative pursuit.
“When something grabs my attention, I direct all my focus on that one object—whether it’s a shadow, a colorful wall, an interesting shape or line—I can get lost making a composition until it feels just right. When I am shooting, for me, photography can be meditation with my eyes open,” she says.
“The rest of the world, and any thoughts about the past or the future, is tuned out and my whole world is the light, colors, shapes and shadows in front of me. Plus, whatever I see is only there for one moment. If I come back the next day at the same time, the sky, the color and the light, are different. Photography is both meditative and grounding. It celebrates one moment in time, capturing it forever.”
The “forever” images she took became a hit on Instagram, and followers began flooding Gould’s IG account to the point where @miamicolortheory was born, and was awarded “Best Instagram” in the Best of Miami 2022 issue of The Miami New Times. Apple’s Instagram also featured a selection of Gould’s sophisticated images on multiple occasions.
Then came a book, Seeing Differently: Miami Color Theory (Tra Publishing), and a video series, and she began showing her vision of Miami in multiple art shows. During Art Basel in Miami last December, installations at the Royal Palm South Beach displayed the ideas behind Seeing Differently. Gould was part of the No Vacancy exhibition, which selected 12 artists and paired them with 12 area hotels to create custom installations for the public during Miami Art Week. She also showed a video display at Pérez Art Museum Miami along with her book signing.
“My book is based on a video series that I created for the Bass Museum of Art,” she says. “The series teaches minimal photography, seven elements of art and five composition techniques. There is also the meditative aspect, and it teaches about the practice of seeing, and visual awareness, calming the mind, focused attention, process over product and the concept of one moment in time.”
Gould was surprised by the reaction to Seeing Differently. For some, it’s about the design elements featured in the photography, others focused on the meditative quality of the images, the minimalist photographs leading to mindfulness. “And others like the book as a visual catalog of Miami. I wasn’t expecting that but it makes sense.”
Gould told Miami New Times that she shot “Miami like it was a flea market of color.”
A happy accident also helped spark Gould’s ode to Miami. In December of 2020, Adobe announced the removal of Flash from all browsers. “That meant my website, the online archive of all my favorite creative projects in animation, photography, and logo design, would no longer be accessible,” Gould says.
Before it was gone, she took screenshots of the pages of her website, and created an Instagram account of the Flash site (@vintageflashsite) and realized that she was still connected with the style of photography she shot from the 1980s to the early 2000s.
“During that time, I was using Fuji Velvia ASA 50 35mm slide film. I decided I would start shooting minimal images again and I was driving in Wynwood (a neighborhood in Miami known for its many murals), and I didn’t have my camera with me, but I did have my iPhone. So I shot images of colorful buildings. I was blown away by the saturated and vibrant colors and how beautifully the iPhone captured them.”
She started posting one photo a day to Instagram and within about six weeks a magazine in Italy, FrizziFrizzi, contacted her and wrote an article about the series.
“Oftentimes, I would find something visually interesting to shoot, and then learn more about the architect or be introduced to a new mural artist’s work. Daily errands turned into an adventure. There is always something interesting to look at. And beauty is everywhere.”
Header Image credit: Pink Dolphin Restaurant (detail), NW 2nd Ave. Miami
Words by Edward Weinman. Photos by Laura Paresky Gould
For more about Gould, visit miamicolortheory.com
