'Pinnacle of her career'

Carole Amodeo’s photography is completely unedited. She doesn’t run anything through photoshop or other retouching programs. All of her photos are taken with either a point-and-shoot camera or her iPhone.

According to a Suffolk County Historical Society Museum press release about Amodeo’s new exhibit, “the simplicity of her process is a defining element of her work.”

On June 18, a selection of Amodeo’s work was displayed for the public to come see at the museum and will be there until July 31. The exhibit, titled the “Downtown Reflection Series,” features photos taken by Amodeo that showcase the beauty of reflections in shop windows.

The first reflection photo she took in 1997 with a film camera features gorgeous mannequins from the storefront of Bergdorf Goodman’s, elegantly posed with the reflection of a skyscraper across the way, hazing over them.

Over the years, she has used mannequins quite a bit as a muse in her photographs. A particularly stunning one titled “King Midas” features the face of a male mannequin from a shop in Patchogue. He stares beyond the camera while the reflection of a building with artwork painted on it from across the street drapes across his focus.

Amodeo said she particularly likes the reflection series because “the longer you look at them, the more you see.” It’s true—even one square of the photograph can contain a whole city scene from across the street.

Amodeo said she mostly prefers to put her photographs on acrylic because they give the same feel as the glass she took the photo of. However, there is one photograph titled “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” that was printed onto canvas. The photo, which is black and white, features a mannequin from the Sayville Running Company, seemingly running onto a deserted street. Amodeo named the photo because it reminded her of the 1956 film “Invasion of the Body Snatchers.” The canvas gives the photo an almost grainy quality, reminiscent of an old black-and-white film.

For Amodeo, who is 78 and has been a self-taught photographer for 22 years, this series exhibition is a “pinnacle of her career.”

“When I was younger, I was an athlete,” Amodeo said. “And I always came from behind. I was always losing and came up in the end.”

To other senior artists, Amodeo said this:

“Push a little bit and have faith in yourself. It makes life fun.”

About the exhibit

The “Downton Reflection Series: Reflection Photography by Carole J. Amodeo” is on display at the Suffolk County Historical Society in the Gish Gallery from June 18 to July 31. The gallery is open Wednesday to Saturday, 10 a.m.- 4:30 p.m. All the photographs in the exhibit are available for purchase. More about Amodeo and her art can be found on her Instagram @pixcja or her website www.caroleamodeo.longislandphotogallery.com.