Untitled (William Prust II)

Dater is recognized as one of today?s leading photographers. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a National Endowment for the Arts, Individual Artist Grant, and a Dorothea Lange Award. Her works have appeared in exhibitions at the International Center of Photography in New York, Webster University in St. Louis, and California College of Arts and Crafts. The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, Arizona, International Museum for Photography in Rochester, New York and Yale University Art Gallery contain her works in their permanent collections. Dater manages every detail of the portrait and never leaves anything to chance. This staging gives her portraits a formal quality reminiscent of monumental oil paintings of the 19th century. The subjects are instructed on what to wear, how to act and even where to look. Judy admits these portraits are not spontaneous at all because she directs every detail to achieve the outcome she desires. Dater says each of her portraits is just a reflection of herself; she says it is unreasonable to think the ?self? could avoid being included in her work.