Lines and Angles
I enjoy photographing cities. I can only photograph what I see, unfortunately, not what I feel or imagine. I am attracted to form and structure, lines and angles, elements and details. I often photograph small details; things that everybody sees, but nobody remembers. Taking these details out of context puts an exclamation point on them. And I look for shadows. Shadows are often the main element in the photo, and the owner of the shadow is secondary, if visible at all.
And when I can, I look for humor: humorous situations, humorous people. Not that they intend to be humorous, but sometimes the camera makes them that way.
Most of my exhibition work is done in film-based black and white. I use the old process for two main reasons. The first is that I enjoy the process itself. Developing the film is a necessary component. And printing the film in the darkroom is at least half the fun of the overall process. I find the darkroom to be very therapeutic, and I spend as much time as possible there. Second, and more importantly, good darkroom prints on fiber-based paper have an unparalleled textural quality. The picture is in the paper, not on it. I much prefer that to either non-fiber darkroom prints or digital prints. I do my color work digitally, but I will continue to use the darkroom for black and white work as long as the materials are available.
I use many cameras and many camera formats. My two primary cameras are the standard 35 mm single lens reflex and a digital single lens reflex camera. Although I have many lenses for the 35 mm camera, most of my images are made with the “normal” 50 lens and a somewhat wide 24 mm lens. The others are used sparingly. In addition, I have used a medium format twin lens reflex for many years. I don’t use it so often now because I am finding the size and the weight to be more of an issue. I do regularly use a medium format plastic Holga camera. Its cheap lens creates a certain special effect, and the camera can be used to reduce the subject to form and texture. I also use a pinhole camera for the same reason. Photography using the Holga or pinhole camera reduces the subject to form and tone; there is no detail. Finally, I have a 35 mm and a medium format panorama cameras. These also yield distinctive special effects.
Having said all that stuff, I really enjoyed my time in the city of Akureyri and the nearby area. I found all the lines, angles, details, shadows and other things that are in cities. And I want to express my thanks to all the people who made that possible. It was a terrific experience.
