Forms, both man-made and natural have a way of drawing me in to examine place. There is idyllic beauty that is easily identified in nature. But with circumspection, beauty can also be found in the neglected structures of man. There exists a beautiful melancholy in man-made forms that have outlived their function. Form no longer follows function.
Weathering and decay are elevated on par with the pristine. Through a pinhole I capture this range of beauty and create space to contemplate one’s existence. My primary engine is a propensity to wander, a pinhole camera and Tri-X film.
Chesapeake, VA 08/17/16
crow hop through the pinhole—time slows down
sanguine blossoms
crepe myrtle rain falls inside the breast
suspended animation within a wormhole
a spherical world, ephemeral
with encroaching edges of opaque mystery
—creamy black velvet
skin becomes sky
a splattered arch of liquid sunshine,
flung across the northeast
the center is blown-out
a cricket enters god’s eye
I originally started out in film photography. Like most people, I was ecstatic when I got my first digital camera and I quickly left film photography behind. I was seduced by the brilliance and relative ease by which I could create digital images.
As of late, I have become disillusioned with digital photography. I feel that it places an over emphasis on technology, much to the determent of craftsmanship and freedom of expression. I reached a plateau in my photography that I could no move beyond without continuing to make substantial investments in hardware and software.
I however, do not refer to myself as a Luddite; for I have not all together abandoned technology. I still incorporate the computer in my workflow. I utilize the computer to digitize negatives as well as make prints. Technology remains useful but according to my own terms.
The primitive starkness of pinhole photography appeals to me. Without a lens, the photographic process is reduced to its fundamental elements. This frees me to concentrate on personal expression. With it, I am able to explore and experiment as if painting with light. With my box for seeing time, I am able capture mood that elicits a melancholy, dream like response.
