- Black and White
- Black and white photography is the ultimate challenge to me. Without eye-catching colors painted across the frame, one can only illustrate through composition and contrast. Shooting in black and white is not natural, for we are capturing something we cannot see. Indeed, it requires and entirely different mindset but the results can be stunning.
- Nature
- Nature is all around us, yet we seem to take it for granted unless it is presented in a magnitude so immense that it cannot be ignored: The Grand Canyon, The Pacific Ocean, a brilliant sunset painting the entire sky or an endless field of sunflowers. While there is undisputed beauty in these things, a photographer must strive to capture the beauty in everyday life, big and small.
- Night and Light
- Photography is, at its simplest level, the recording of light. This may lead one to believe that night photography is limited in its usefulness and its ability to captivate. However, it is darkness that provides the photographer not only the ultimate contrast but also the freedom to capture the movements of light on a blank canvas. That said, bright sunlight can be a whole lot of fun as well.
- Patterns
- I am always fascinated by repetitive and contrasting patterns. There is something about them -- whether they be man-made or found in nature -- that draw the eye like almost nothing else. Perhaps it is because we strive to find order in chaos. Perhaps patterns prove to us that there is meaning in the world around us?
- People
- A face captured on film tells a story that is an amalgamation of both the intrinsic visual properties of the subject as well as the compositional creation of the photographer. While photographing people is one of the hardest and often scariest aspects of photography, it is also the most rewarding.
- Scenes
- Life is nothing more than a series of scenes, both lived and remembered. These photographs are a preservation of that slice of life. They are not always profound but, for some reason, they are always memorable. While many of these photos will certainly mean more to the photographer than to the viewer, I believe that each on its own communicates a mood if not the memory.
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