‘No Boat Ever Waited For Me’, is part of the quest to find the depth of a painting like experience in a digital medium. The title is from another tale, it has profound meaning in my life.
‘Just Like You, Once Upon a Time I Was a Beautiful Promise’, I like the surreal setting and twist to a rather deceptive order of things we commonly correlate in our heads. Our never-ending dream of green fields, gorgeous homes and forgiving skies.
1: How long have you been involved in photography?
From the moment I can remember, since the smell of a leather case on my father’s old Kiev 4A would get me exited for no apparent reason. I learnt quickly to press the right buttons. Its beautiful shiny lens sucked in the blue skies, trees and meadows with butterflies on it. My family never looked better or happier than in my images. I got so good, dad had to promise me that one day he will put film in it.
2: Equipment you use?
Couple of Canons, PowerShot A550 and A710. Now I also have a Canon PowerShot SX1. When I can, I try to use my Nikon D200. It is bulkier and heavier, but faster to respond and operate. I have a couple of lenses for it, I always end up changing in the field under the most difficult conditions, just to make sure the local equipment cleaning service have a steady income in these challenging times.
3: Mac or PC?
PC exclusively.
4: What inspires you?
If I ever had any inspiration it would mostly come from paintings. I tried, at least on some of my images, to emulate this art form which has the uncanny ability to preserve the spiritual context of a subject by application of ink textures and to store its energy in each brushstroke. This is fascinating, hard to reproduce magic.
5: Preferred subject matter?
Nature. It can fill your heart with an indescribable sense of joy, freedom and belonging, while still keeping some puzzling and distant parts for itself, making you want to reveal them in one monumental display of colour and shape. It is also threatened, which makes me feel very protective towards it. Some of my images spell out this concern very clearly.
6: Name one thing you haven't caught with the camera that you REALLY want to capture.
Portraits, people. There is no viable reason for the lack of faces revealing their stories in my album. I love humanity, my lens will have to acknowledge this one day and bring an entirely new quality to the gallery.
7: When in doubt about your art, who do you confide in?
You probably remember some of your birthdays as a child; all those cakes, candles and colourful balloons. You may even recall a sight of a quiet kid in the corner, its legs dangling off a big wooden chair. That was me. A born loner, a bit better these days, I still have a habit of retreating into deeper places of my inner universe when times become difficult. Solitude may be better, or I simply don’t know any different.
8: Qualifications/training in anything? ie: Photoshop
None whatsoever. But I can read technical books like a novel. It helps. Imagine digesting some computer script before going to bed, and sleeping like a baby afterwards. I know it’s strange, so am I.
9: Plans for the future?
Not sure at the moment. In my reality, things come and go in long repetitive cycles. I’ve been here before and, at present struggling to stay in this creative incarnation. In the case I disappear from view it is certain I’ll be back someday, a bit more enthusiastic, slightly improved. If everything goes according to plan my photography will peak in one of my future lives.
10: In one word, describe your photography.
Emotional. Its impact on a viewer is everything. There are many dimensions of every artform but this one is very important, so closely tied to what we really are, our existence, our very purpose.
No comments:
Post a Comment