“You just have to live and life will give you pictures,” Henri Cartier Bresson once said. As a photographer extraordinaire, he dedicated his life and art to capturing imagery he called the decisive moment; a spontaneous witness, a record never to be repeated. That’s not me —or my photography.
My photographic journey began in journalism in college and professionally, Mt training was to observe and tell a story. Editorial photography is an attempt to synthesize an event into context- allow the viewer to gain both understanding and perspective in an unfolding world. Light, emotion, graphic intensity, and color enrich and underpin this endeavor. Our world of nature, travel, and culture offer unique and rich stories. While I am unsure how Henri Cartier Bresson set upon his world-view exploration- equipping a discipline of carrying the camera and then being present to capture that decisive moment. WELL, that attribute I am in envy.
Studying for a Master’s degree at the Art Institute of Chicago, students and faculty weekly met to evaluate and critique current projects. During one such critique, a fellow grad-student fleshed out a concept that has stayed with me. As a painter-photographer he simultaneously worked both mediums. Distinguishing paintings as ideological compilations he viewed photographs as individual brush strokes towards an extended journey.
So as I explore the world with camera in hand, I chronical life’s moments of pageantry. Rarely do I capture life’s spontaneity. Mostly I see, experience, compose -and calculate. Then I capture life’s repetition. Amazingly, it often replicates—images or lightning striking again. Behaviors; nuances; contexts; evolution and pageantry. ..… Just Brushstrokes…really