Photographer Laura Zimmerman is an Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of these images. From the project ‘Travel Impressions’. To see Laura ‘s body of work, click on any photograph.

When I travel, I love to interpret new scenes in an impressionistic way—from Skagit Valley tulips to Spanish windmills, Lisbon trams, Mediterranean shores, Icelandic beaches, and many places in between. With Intentional Camera Movement and multiple exposures, color and motion come first, location second. These aren’t postcards but impressions: the way a place felt rather than how it looked. I’m interested in what emerges when a photograph moves beyond literal representation—the emotion of being somewhere else.

I'm a Pacific Northwest photographer based on Lake Sammamish near Seattle. After retiring from portrait photography in 2020, I began experimenting with photographic techniques that can alter reality. During the pandemic, with Lake Sammamish as my primary subject, I explored Intentional Camera Movement, multiple exposures, and combinations of the two. I discovered that slowing down the shutter speed could smooth edges, melt colors together, and strip a complex landscape down to its essential colors, lines, and shapes. The resulting images appealed to me because they made the world feel softer, less complicated, more approachable—a kinder, gentler version of a familiar place. When travel became possible again, I took these experiments on the road with me. Whether at home or somewhere else, I continue to explore how a camera can transform a place into something softer, simpler, and more emotionally resonant.

All images and text © Laura Zimmerman