Photography
“I am always looking outside, trying to say something that is true. But maybe nothing is really true. Except what's out there. And what's out there is constantly changing.”
Robert Frank, Pull My Daisy
My photography is a distillation of my broader media practices, crystallizing my interests and impulses into their most immediate visual form. In other words, my approach to taking photographs is really an extension of the mode of documentary I pursue in my filmmaking – small footprint, observational, centered on people. I gravitate towards subtle human moments happening around me, little slices of life that give a glimpse into a larger persona or narrative. I prioritize authenticity and spontaneity over creating highly designed compositions or imposing a mood through extraneous lighting.
This does not mean actions are not performed or contrivance isn’t at play. I find my best interactions around the camera unfold when I enter into an interplay with the subject. They first move from absorption to an awareness of being observed. This awareness then proceeds to a consciousness of performance that sparks a smile or glimmer of self-knowledge. The action continues uninterrupted, but now there is a recognition of it, an appreciation of its novelty or acceptance of its constancy. There is a tacit communication in these exchanges that I find exhilarating. On trips to Spanish speaking countries, I often find myself saying, “¿Puedo tomar su foto?” And a star is born. Other times, I will take a photo first and then approach the subject afterwards. Usually, they’re surprised and delighted to have been found to merit photographing. They feel as if they have been given a genuine document of themselves. This fly-on-the-wall perspective is important because it allows me to capture the unspoken: the raw feeling, the hard truths, the ironies, which we often avoid putting into words but collectively know to be true. Hopefully, these photos show life as it is lived, rather than told.