Why I Do Photography...

I Love the Process:

Photography is a medium that entails a host of equipment - on one extreme I may use only a camera, and hand-held, while at other times it seems as though I'm involving nearly my entire equipment inventory. I love the feel of the camera itself in my hands, finding the location and determining the view, setting up my tripod and working it to the height my eye tells me, choosing from among my lenses, and deciding which exposure format I will use. I work with a cable release in order not to cause camera shake when I'm using a long lens and have set a particularly slow shutter speed, and use fill-flash when the ambient light is less than I'd like for the subject and my intent.

This initial part of the process is much like the time just before the conductor emerges on stage from the wings, when the various orchestra members are warming their instruments running through scales, and at one point the concert master leads the orchestra in tuning all instruments to her's. Next to the performance of the orchestral piece, this is my favorite time of the concert. So, too, I love the meditative ritual of preparing to work with camera and film. It is to me a whole process. It is a time when I feel the tug of the earth diminish, and I ready myself to take flight...

All of this is by way of leading up to the critical experience, that of getting behind the camera and putting my eye to the viewfinder. Then, I am transported to another world - like stepping through the wardrobe into the land of Narnia, this is a journey to a wonderland of enchantment and intrigue. And, how I get there is as important as that I do...