When an entire roll of film taken at the Keukenhof Gardens in the Netherlands came out blurry, Shalee Cooper decided it was time to study photography. After returning from her study abroad, she enrolled in the foundation program at the University of Utah, and has made Salt Lake City her home base ever since. Working out of a downtown loft, Cooper has built a local and international reputation as a photographer, curater and art professional. Her varied body of work — which includes high contrast silver prints, polaroids, Holga prints and color work — is influenced, she says, by the different tools of her trade. They are tools she has learned to use well. Now when her work is out of focus, as it was for an exhibition at the Rose Wagner in 2010, it’s on purpose. In this video interview, the former 15 Bytes image editor and current Gallery Director at Alpine Art allowed us to visit her live/work space, where she discussed mixing chemicals, blurring lines and the struggle to get her first camera.

Shawn Rossiter

The founder of Artists of Utah and editor of its online magazine, 15 Bytes, Shawn Rossiter has undergraduate degrees in English, French and Italian Literature and studied Comparative Literature in graduate school before pursuing a career in art.