Photography

Photography Philosophy

Photography is indeed a legitimate art form. It has the ability to document, to evoke emotion, to inspire, to horrify, to motivate. It can elevate the mundane to the sublime. And it can tear the sublime down to the mundane. It beautifies. It intrigues. It becomes part of our life, part of our moments. Its celebrates. It remembers.

I tend to go more for a natural feel, a “you are there” look, without being a mere snapshot. As a result, I have no interest in pictorialism or the lomography movement. Pictorialism is an attempt to make the technology of photography mimic earlier styles of art. I'm not interested in mimicry.

And lomography is simply laziness. You're taking an inferior camera, inferior film, no effort whatsoever composing the photo, whatever happens happens, and you call that art? No.

My favorite lens formulae are the plasmat types and the Tessars. Why? Tessars have a natural lack of sharpness around the edges; this directs the eye toward the sub, much like the human eye does in real life. Plasmat lenses, because they are symmetrical, have extreme sharpness in the capability of depth of field beyond other types, excluding the remarkable Gundlach WA Radar series of lenses from the 1930s. This gives total freedom of expression without sacrificing technical quality.

One of my particular passion are the subminiature Minox 8x11mm format cameras. Yes, the real spy camera. Their lens mimics the human eye, and the subtle lack of definition does give an interesting vibe, like you’re in the scene.

All around us, even in the most boring settings, is an object, or a point of view, that can be turned into art instantly with photography.