McHenry Dam No. 6 ~ Fall 2009
Photography, as we all know, is not real at all. It is an illusion of reality with which we create our own private world.
Arnold Newman
The photographic image is the reflection of the photographer’s vision, his or her passion. By printing an image the photographer makes public that vision and passion. What is seen by one can, in this way and only this way, be seen by others in the role of viewer of the two-dimensional world created by the photographer as a simulacrum, an illusion if you will, of that which moved the photographer to snap the shutter and create an image. The photographer, in the end, must concentrate on creating work that speaks visually of his or her world; the images created make that private world public.
When I show an image to the public I am providing an insight into the way in which I see; I am providing a glimpse into how I construct the world through the lens of the camera flowing from the way in which I stare at the world. No other human being will see the world the same way I see that world. No other person is able to capture the same image that I capture. Because I, like you, interface with the world in solitude I bring my unique vision to the forefront when I am making images. You would do the same.
Because I am also of the world I bring a social perspective to the photographic image as well. I am influenced by the culture, politics, geography, religion, family and friends with whom I affiliate. Each of these elements come together at the junction of individual solitude to meld into that which makes me a person of the world. One cannot shake this solitary/social identity because it is an embedded part of one’s total lived experience. It is all of these influences that make us who and what we are.
I make photographs, in part, so that others can see the world through my eyes, to glimpse at my private world made public.
The McHenry Dam No. 6 ~ Fall 2009 by Roger Passman, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
