Scratchpad
A Glimpse
A home for select images with notations, images in progress where I share my thoughts on the curation process of each image. Regularly updated as images come and go. A glimpse into my work and process away from social media and less formal than a tutorial.
This Collection is partly for me, mostly for you.
Hope you enjoy:)
Beyond
One of my personal goals while creating images at White Sands NP was to push myself to find unique compositions or plays of light. I wanted to spend more time searching for unique scenes which involved more walking and passing up many opportunities. The dunes of gypsum in WS are a wide open blank canvas to create from which fit perfectly to my approach to photography.
This image seems pretty simple at first glance, some ripples and flows of sand. It gets more interesting when you consider the direction of gravity vs what you’re looking at. To me, this image holds my attention because the compositional elements seem to contrast the direction of gravity. The bottom left holds defined lines the flows of sand are curved: contrast. The lines point up and right but we also have a tendency to look across lines, up and left towards negative space: contrast. A vertical line in this scene would originate from the top right corner and flows down and towards the center, while every other line leads us up, in and towards the left: again more contrast.
This is just what I see and why I made this image. It’s not finished yet as this isn’t even the RAW file, it’s a quick JPG edit. What else would you do to this image? What will I do? Check back for another version sometime:)
Solitude
To be honest, this image surprised me. I wasn’t out looking for scenes specifically nor was I in a destination or anywhere new. This was a place I’d been many times and this random Winter day wasn’t anything extraordinary. But I’m also a firm believer that none of the above is necessary for creating personally meaningful imagery.
One thing that is necessary for me though, is solitude. Peace of mind. A calm state of being, harmony. I don’t really see a scene in this image as I do a sense of harmony and solitude. I see a moment of time in balance where my mind was free to imagine as much as record.
As Above So Below
A long time ago, probably mid 2000’s, I came across the work of a watercolor artist from Greece who painted trees. Her series of “As Above So Below” influenced my vision long before I knew why, something about her simplicity always stood out to me.
Fast forward to 2024 and I was walking along the river with just my phone in hand. A simple process on a mundane day.
Inspiration, true inspiration is funny like that, it remains with you always burning on the inside until the right time for it to reveal itself. This contrasting scene of color is somewhat obvious, but I also enjoy the play of design with submerged sticks and a melted pattern at the top. Neither are trees, but the mind doesn’t need a tree to see a tree. Click.
Seeing?
I’ve always found photography to have the unique ability to show in detail what we see, while also showing what we don’t see. There’s often more than we see with our eyes in photography, no matter the subject.
This image is from a few years ago and I just recently discovered it, edited, saw it. An image which makes me question if we need more than our eyes in photography? Guess my answer.
The Way
A simple visual reminder that the right way through is seldom, if ever, linear. There are many paths to explore, some will lead to dead ends, some will continue on. Some are better, some are worse, but there’s always a way through.
