My artistic vision up to this point has been to simply get people to start thinking more. A photograph is not just a two dimensionally reproduced moment in time. When I take a photograph I try to convey a sense that there is more going on than there appears. There's always a story to be found, one just has to look for it. What I really want a person to think about after they see my work is themselves. Sure, all of the silent accolades that come to mind would be nice as well but i'm really just trying to explore peoples thoughts and ideas. Sometimes I'm trying to transport them to a different place mentally. Maybe i'll occasionally strive to challenge the mood their in by using my images as portals to and from different states of mind.
When I show people my photographs i do not expect them to glance at it for mere seconds and then move along to the next unless they are checking for composition. My images are meant to show a moment in time. Whether it's filled with action or just a simple scenery, if I shot it, chances are that I've stuck in something for you to find and ponder over. If the image seems too obvious then it's meant to be just that, obvious. What is obvious for one person may be completely foreign to another. As I stated in my last blog post I thoroughly enjoy the mysteries of the human mind; therefore when I compose an image I scan through the viewfinder for what is already naturally occurring that may hold stories within it. If I can derive multiple stories from one image then a different story can be discovered or created by each person who views my image. Psychology tells us that each story will in some way relate to them, their lifestyles, backgrounds, upbringings, etc. My fascination lies within how different people can take an image and interpret it in so many different ways. This applies not only to a figurative image but also to visually abstract images. When the viewer is not told what they are looking at there is no limitation to what a simple image could turn into. Photography, though straightforward is the recording of a moment in time, it does not need to be though of as only being able to exist as one thing.
To this day I have not been told that there seems to be a constant societal theme or strive to connect with a specific demographic of individuals present in my photographs. I'm not a religious person and though I have political views I don't tend to aim to project them through my work. I feel as though if I keep an open mind I can create work that connects with a larger body of people. AS I write this I realize that I don't think that that is necessarily a good thing. Keeping an open mind is and always will be a good thing to me, but I do want to create a specific style, or carry a somewhat constant theme evident in my work. Being able to reach out to a large audience is nice but being able to more directly affect a slightly smaller audience feels like it might be a larger accomplishment.
As Artists with the "freedom" of speech behind us I believe that we are put in a place that IF we have something powerful to say then what's to stop us? Our career in art gives us the extended freedom we need in order to convey our message we can do it and not suffer supreme consequences. That is not to say that we should cast aside all recognition of ethics or a moral code. A complete disregard of sensitivity would cast such a shadow on the art community. Rather, we should keep in mind the extreme boundaries and see what messages we can create that brush up against them. I've always been an advocate of envelope pushing.
