I originally turned to photography after an extensive period of pencil
work and oil painting, and my photographic images are informed by the
understandings of the visual world encountered in that seminal time.
Early influences are also to be traced to four years of residence in
Japan; the aesthetic to which I was exposed still suggests to me the
importance of clarity and balance in composition and value.
Political dimensions have become more important to my thematic focus
for the last several years, prompting a continuing series of images
stemming from numerous visits to Cuba, a place steeped in images calling
to the past. My work has drawn closer to the quiet and evocative beauty
of Cuba’s architectural decay, which to me suggests ongoing themes
of memory and loss. Within an interpretation of memory there can emerge
encompassing issues of personal history and the way in which memory
changes perception as we look to the past. The imaging that occurs can
become a vehicle connecting the mnemonic world with the visual realm,
a union that involves a sense of place and a personal lexicon of desire
for an earlier time. These feelings pervade other photographic projects
I’ve undertaken in the Bay Area.
The film I expose using a Pentax medium format camera is digitally scanned
on an Imacon Flextight drum scanner. I print the image file on an Epson
9600 in archival pigment inks for color work, or for black and white
photographs, on an older pigmented Epson 9500 printer. These inkjet
machines can utilize a variety of matte papers, and both accommodate
paper up to forty-four inches in width, allowing for experimentation
in the making of very large prints.
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