The artistic philosophy that has inspired me in composing my photographs over the last fifty plus years is really quite simple: It is to capture something extraordinary in what is otherwise commonplace to the casual observer. I am fortunate that the gallery which represents me in Montreal, Beaux Arts David Astrof, has shared my point of view. While the artist’s conception is important in-so-far-as it expresses something original (and/or freshens how we perceive the world around us), I believe it is equally important that the concept be inspiring and not merely cleverly unique.
Photography is not currently my main source of income. My livelihood is management consultation work which takes me around the world. It is traveling, with its expatriate experience of being apart from the familiar, which infects my vision and shapes my choice of perspective. This fuels my inspiration to create a photograph imbued with the magic of that particular setting at that particular moment in time. While travel is a big part of what motivates my creative process, it is this “stranger in a strange land” experience which influences all my work.
In my last solo exhibition with Beaux Arts David Astrof, my selection of photographs was purposefully non-thematic. Rather, the presentation of the photographs was intended to produce a show that in and of itself was conceptual. My presentation included black matted and framed photographs ranging in size from 12 x 18 to 24 x 36 inches and unframed montages on a grid (where the black outline of the grid on the wall became the frame). We paid close attention to the subliminal code inherent in the composition - the shape, color and scale of each image and worked with these elements to create a sense of rightness and coherency in the juxtaposition of individual images and montages within the context of the whole exhibition.
In terms of process, my technique has evolved with the advances of technology. I began as a serious photographer in 1960 with a Minolta SR-1 single lens reflex camera and did the final finishing process in my own darkroom. I now use a Canon EOS-20D and work with Photoshop to bring the photograph to where I want it to be. I work with Photoshop to achieve the same kinds of adjustments that I once did in my dark room.
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