Meetings

Photography for me is a vehicle being driven wholly by my curiosity for the world around me. I’ve always been inquisitive, always wondering about how things work or why they are the way they are. It’s a natural reaction for me, to seek understanding and gain perspective from the obvious and the obscure.
Photography helped me find meaning and focus in these innocent gestures of exploration. It guides me deeper. I find myself discovering beauty in places I previously hadn’t thought or cared to look. From the simplest collection of beach rocks opposing wet sand and surf to the grandest of landscapes, it is the play of light, texture and luminosity that catches my “eye” and reaches deep within my soul.

Although there is often much forethought before I go out to make pictures, and I usually will have a particular image in mind, I still leave myself completely open to the visceral reaction I get when something strikes me. Whether it beautiful, interesting, simplistic or odd, this feeling often resonates deeply at first, slowly and intently beginning to reveal itself on the ground glass, then, all at once, becoming fully realized as I pull the dark slide and click the shutter release.


With my program this coming month, I aim to offer up some of what I have learned while making images. Since I have chosen to use a large format view camera for all of my recent work, I will show and explain the advantages (and pitfalls) of using a camera that’s as big as your head. We will explore some of the principles behind camera movements, metering of the scene, developmental controls, scanning and post processing techniques. Along with technical details, I will also touch on some philosophical points that truly express the way I feel and think about photography.