The following is part of an email I sent to a fan based on part of an email I received from another fan. Thought you would be interested.
"So...how are these shots taken? First of all, I'm using a Nikon D300. I just got it, not too long ago, and still experimenting with it. The camera that most of the pictures you see were shot with was an Olympus 3020 point and shoot. The 300 is a whole new world and a lot more work. It will take time for me to perfect its use. The code under each pic tells you which one was used - O for Olympus / N for Nikon. I also use Photoshop CS2 for touch up work.
Now...as for the quintessence of my art. That's a little more complicated. But I will pass along to you a snippet of an email that I received from another fan just about the time I received yours. It states very well, I might add, what I look for and hope to achieve.
"The enjoyment of this mostly unnoticed and unappreciated art form has been a secret pleasure of mine. I have recently started to photograph some of these statues that catch my interest. This brings me to the reason for this note to you. I have been searching for photographs taken by other people that coincide with how I look at them. Not as documentation of a life well lived and fondly remembered, but as if the sculptures were subjects of a sitting with a portrait photographer.
As I looked through your site, I realized that you are that such photographer. I cannot tell you how many times one of your photos made me say "He gets it" or "That shot tells the story". I am thankful to have experienced your photos and I can assure you that your site will be in my site favorites to be visited again and again. Thank you again for sharing your photographic perspective. I look forward to any additional photos that you may take in the future." (end)
My passage through a cemetery would be indistinguishable from another photographers passage through a city street. Yes, I do shoot pictures that are panoramic and perhaps 'pretty', but my spirit seeks a story. How does that shot translate in the world of the living? To what event in the world of the living can it be compared? They are usually small events that we rarely ever consider in our day to day. Events of the heart; events of our humanity. The husband stone leaning on the wife stone(Danvers) speaks for itself. The two side-by-side children statues shot from the back reminds me of two living children sitting on a curb waiting for friends. The stone child(Green-Wood) reading a book shot from a diagonal behind a pillar; the lady(Green-Wood), similarly shot from behind makes me wonder what she is thinking or feeling. I intellectually know she is only a bronze, but as a living human being I am innately curious, in that first viewing instance, as to what she is thinking and, what facial expression is she wearing? Is she smiling or talking to herself...crying perhaps? When a viewer first sees one of my pics, I want them to think living before they realize, "Wait, this is a cemetery..."
I hope this helps you a little. Its late and a long day awaits me. BTW, if you should take a picture that at the time seemed reasonable, but later you question your choice...look closer, there may be a picture hidden away in the depths. I have taken many a pic that I questioned later only to find the story buried. Crop here, crop there, voila! That little subconscious thing at work, I guess.
Michelangelo's marble...
