Check out the work of Brooklyn-based photographer Brooke DiDonato

Brooke DiDonato is a Brooklyn-based photographer with an affinity for the extraordinary. Her work is not just eye-catching. It is thought-provoking. She blends seemingly serene, even mundane images, soft colors and calming textures with surreal details. Like a pair of leather shoes, melting on the asphalt or a human face in the midst of cacti.

“I told my parents at a very young age that I wanted to be an artist and I think it scared them. Then when I got older and had bills to pay, it scared me too,” she shared in an interview. “The backbone of it comes from maintaining the mild delusion that everything will work out even when it doesn’t. The desire was always there but it’s more about putting all the fear on the back burner and saying ‘What am I going to make today?’ then going out and making that thing, even if no one is paying you to do it.”

Check out some of her amazing work below. Tell us your thoughts, when you see her seemingly straightforward photos, “embellished” with surreal details.