Stand Alone...
THERE'S SOMETHING about saying one of my photographs stands alone as a piece of art that seems pretentious. As I've said elsewhere, I've never been in a juried show or had anyone so value my work that they display it in a gallery. But, I think that is what we mean when a person presents something as worthwhile to the public as if to say, "This is my unique vision."
The people, places, things and situations I have presented in other sections here could be considered artistic in some sense, but in this section, I deliberately look at some of the more modern work that was intentionally shot with the intent of being a unique look at the world with a style that is designed to reflect my own tastes. I shoot in a documentary style. I try not to manipulate images as best I can. While most of these photographs are cropped to make something stand out in the field of view, much is also not cropped except in the camera's view that selects the whole scene as being worthwhile to the extent that a lens can capture it. I do not manipulate the images to achieve a special visual effect. I will increase contrast and definition in the photos in order to improve their visual quality. This is all done in much the same way that someone might have improved the image in a dark room. But, I will never "enhance" the content of this kind of work through experimentation as I would in The Limits or certainly The Focus Series. RPW |