MAKING A PHOTO SPEAK TO THE EMOTIONS

Many people have asked me to describe what I am trying to do as an Impressionist photographer. It can be described in two words: simplify and intensify. In the practical sense, I look for emotional content in the everyday objects I encounter so that I can express the essence of their existence. Consequently, I do not photograph uncommon angles or juxtapositions or colors, instead I look for the everyday layers that makeup the common sights and events of life. I anticipate an enhancement of color and tone to recall the emotional impact of that moment. Later I apply colors to these objects in hues that are not seen with a camera. Often I simplify or remove texture and detail to further emphasize the object’s emotional content. In all this I try to recapture internal feelings and color, and to project them so that they are felt as they were experienced, or to cause them to be experienced for the first time.