Artist Statement (For Gallery Exhibition)

From the ordinary to the extraordinary it has become vital to capture the world around me. It is my hope that through these images I am able to offer a shared moment. A moment not unlike the feeling one gets through hearing a beautiful piece of music or being drawn in to the poetry of a “good read”. Each one of these images represents a symbol of an experience that has united both me and the subject in a way that, to a certain extent, only the photographic tools used could accomplish. However, it is important to point out that the camera comes second to the relationship that I build within an environment and those subjects that give meaning to it. It has taken a long time for me to fully understand that the root passion in my photography began long before I ever held a camera. The image of the boy in the barber shop was the only shot I took after I had witnessed about a half dozen other heads of hair fall to the shop floor. When the boy arrived with his mother I had already adapted to the environment and became familiar to those around me…except the boy. He could not take his eyes of me. It is this reflection of wonder manifested within the scene that teases the answer to those meaningful questions we all ask.