someone's bedroom. 2006

This has always been a powerful image for me. I came upon it in a parking garage near Chinatown in Philadelphia. Walking around a corner I got the unexpected jolt and feeling of mistakenly walking into someone's bedroom, and my focus was solely on the bed in the corner of the room. It wasn't until after seeing the photograph that the back walls unveiled as metaphoric curtains. This is one of the most rewarding elements of photography for me; when I am drawn very strongly to compose a picture for one or two reasons and then the finished photograph reveals deeper elements that confirm and reinforce the initial attraction. Those secondary elements must play a role in the first magnetic pull, but they are somewhere below the conscious level of the human eye. It brings to mind the words of Minor White...

Blank, as the creative photographer's state of mind is, uncritical as it is while photographing, as sensitized, as prepared for anything to happen, afterwards with prints safely in hand he needs to practice the most conscious criticism. Is what he saw present in the photograph? If not, does the photograph open his eyes to something he could not see himself? If so, will he take the responsibility for the accident and show it as his own, or will he consider it as a sketch for his subconscious to digest?

-Minor White