Millions of words have been used to explain photography. Strangely, most of those words have been directed at other photographers – the very people that do not need the explanation, the very people who have a photographic philosophy of their own. A great deal has been said about black and white photography in particular. Why is it that black and white imagery is so special to me and to so many others? The answer I think lies in the process of distillation. It is one thing to see and recognize beauty in the world (and I continue to see it everywhere). It is entirely another thing to be able to distill what the eye takes in and produce a refined product that stands as a representation of the artist – emotionally, personally and artistically. A great photographer once said “color just gets in the way”. I do not entirely agree with that statement, but I do understand it. I happen to believe that color and black and white imagery represent quite separate ways of seeing and that, of the two, black and white offers a greater degree of distillation and purity while color offers arguably greater impact through saturation. Color and black and white offer two different forms of expression and creativity and we utilize them according to our vision and emotion.
My own involvement with photography I suspect, started off as a curious interest or a way to mimic the activities of friends, but it quickly morphed into an unshakeable addiction. Today, I am unable to venture out of doors without seeing image potential everywhere. Image ideas, both in the making and in the production come to me unbidden, and, sad to say, many of the more interesting ones remain untried. This is because, as a person I tend to be disorganized no matter how hard I try to prevent this. Over the years I have come to more readily accept my failings but I will never completely do so and this is what stimulates me to continue sliding along a learning curve. I still derive a child-like excitement when that light of first realization or even rediscovery shines suddenly in the darkness.
My first inspirations centred on the West Coast School of American photographers as well as artists such as the English photographers John Blakemore and Fay Godwin. Blakemore in particular has always been my standard bearer for quality black and white printing. As my own character became more strongly bonded with the images I created, my photographic tastes changed. I began to appreciate a broader range of image style - dark and brooding, light and wispy, imagery full of movement, light or portent. I no longer knew what ‘type‘ of artist I wanted to be, no longer felt sure about my choices of subject matter or how I should present it. In retrospect, those were the best of times. I photographed anything and everything. When the dust had settled I looked through my disparate body of work and using a process of self-criticism I confirmed my suspicion that I was a solitary image maker - most comfortable in a landscape that does not answer back, a landscape that reaches out its hands and invites thought, introspection, exploration, peace and a sense of psychological grounding. I have also come to value simplicity, dedication to idea, visual and verbal allegory. As a consequence I have developed admiration for a host of outstanding contemporary visual artists whose superb work continues to astound me.
The portfolios I present here are not constrained to any single genre of photography. I make no apologies for this. I photograph landscapes, architecture, man-made objects and abstract forms but my heart is always rooted in the landscape where producing a portfolio of thematic photographic work on any given topic is more important to me than the making of individual images because it allows me to more deeply explore the external environment and its effects upon me. After all, through the type of images I make, I am ultimately making a statement about myself.
