Creative Inspiration

Although well versed in digital photography, I began my interest in photography with film 20 years ago and still use it today. Therefore you can assume every image on this website is a result of Kodak slide film or SCALA black and white slide film unless otherwise stated. No image on this site has been manipulated with digitial correction software. 

In a digitial era, using film has become a historical or alternative process*. However, using film trains the eye to manipulate light, organize composition and focus on details that can be overlooked with digitial photography. Film photographers learn from their mistakes and are able to analyze them rather than simply deleting them in order to perfect their technique. I prefer to shoot less while capturing more in each image which leaves little room for error. Using film also allows for a more poignant union between the message and the medium because it amplifies the imparative nature of shifting time.

The most inspirational photographer for his wisdom toward life is Gordon Parks (1912- 2006) who once said" "The guy who takes a chance, who walks the line between the known and the unknown, who is unafraid of failure, will succeed." I have failed many times. However, welcoming the unknown by challenging it rather than fearing it has propelled me creatively and intellectualy far beyond my own expectations. 

The photographer I relate to in regard to creative expression is Hungarian-born photographer Andre Kertesz (July 2, 1894 - September 28, 1985), who eventually made his way to New York via Paris. When asked by a NY Times reporter at the age of 90 why he still take photographs, he replied "I am still hungry." Working in black and white his entire life, he began to work predominantly in color after his wife passed away. The heartbreak he experienced after losing her may have been offset by the subdued colours he introduced into his work. Those who know me personally will notice another connection to Kertesz and may understand how I align with his sensitivity veiled behind the lens of a camera.

In contrast to Kertesz's work, my work has always been a myriad of vibrant colours used to offset the intriguing curtain cloaking life, punctuated by erratic moments of irony. 

Many photographers work strickly in black and white and feel it is a more creative interpretation of their message by avoiding colour and the distraction it can create within an image. However, colour has offered an unparalleled palette which only nature can provide.  Historically colour has also been used on a variety of unexpected platforms.

For instance, in ancient times the colour blue was derived from crushing Lazulite (Lapis Lazuli), a stone mined almost exclusively in Afghanistan. Following the stone and colour provided evidence of ancient trade routes from Afghanistan to other parts of the world such as its use in Egyptian tombs.

My work is also a result of synesthesia,which means I interpret my environment, experiences, objects and increments of time in specific colours. For me the number seven has always been linked to dark purple and Tuesday always feels like powder blue. Colour has an indelible affect on physical, mental and emotional aspects and its symoblism can be found everywhere in the world.

Vladimir Nabakov, the infamous scribe of Lolita, had synesthesia and wrote about it in several of his other novels. It also propelled his hypothesis of the Polyomattus Blue butterfly migration which was proven as accurate almost 40 years after it was was developed. Philip Glass, the American minimalist composer is an example of someone who uses sound-colour relationship to develop his work and has been quoted as saying "B flat is the colour blue."

The symbiotic relationship between architecture and colour had a profound affect on my work in graduate school.Unfortunately my ideas often fell flat on professors, who may have been brilliant in some areas, but were often creatively bankrupt when it came to esoteric and asbtract ideologies saturated in colour theory when overlaid onto architecutre and community planning strategies. **

Colour has the ability to create symbolic capital when overlaid onto architecture. Prolific examples can be supported with the pink fortification walls surrounding the Imperial City of Marrakech in Morocco and the stark contrast between white and cobalt blue on the island of Santorini in Greece. Others exmaples include Jodhpur in India and Chefchaouen (Chaouen or Xauen) in Morroco. Both cities are painted cobalt blue making the enormity of the colour in one place a visual magnet. The colour of the architecture has created unique element of brand marketing and identity for these places.

Perhaps following the precept of Andre Kertesz, I may work strictly in black and white once life untangles the inner anxiety I experience as an artist and an academic. 

*To read more about alternative processes currently being used by a photographer in New York, please travel to this link at your leisure.

** With the exception of E.W.A who graciously tolerated my eccentricities and usually propelled them with silence and a raised eyebrow.

Image: Andrez Kertesz, "From my Window" series (Polariod)