Thursday, March 27, 2014

Colorscapes: Flight


Wow it has been a bit since my last post. Shame on me. A continuing project of mine deals with a concept that completely opposes the cameras ability to capture precise detail. However, this does not mean that I'm going against the medium. In fact, the photograph above is a result from what the camera is precisely designed to do. 

The camera is designed to read and define light and color. 

Colorscapes, as I define them, are the result of removing detail from the image. I do this by waiving my camera around like a maniac. I really do! This may seem like a cheap way to make images, but the real work comes with being in the right place with the right light. Every object that your lens passes will create a line in the final image as well as add its color. 

In the end, luck has the final word. I often go through hundreds of colorscapes before I create one that works. It's frustrating. Yet, statistics say if you do some things enough, eventually the odds will play in your favor.  

This process allows for light, color, line, shape and so on to be the only elements that the viewer has to inform them. The image then becomes about form rather than content. I'm a big fan of formalism. My love for Abstract Expressionism and Fauvism are one of the reasons I started this project.

It is in my nature to want to be in control of everything and, as a photographer, this is not a bad thing. However, I have a tendency to be a bit... obsessive at times. These abstractions are a way for me to slow down and relinquish that control.