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

These are my favorites....



Window Sill Daydreaming, By Minor White (1958)

A few days ago I wrote a post about Minor White's 100th birthday, and included this image with a note that it was among my all time favorite images. That got me thinking....do I really know exactly what my favorite photographs are?...If someone asked me, would I be able to name ten or twelve images right off the top of my head? The answer is no, and so I am going to develop my list. I think this is an important thing for any photographer to do, if only to help understand your own style and how it developed, whether consciously or subconsciously. These will be in no particular order of preference....I will just start with this image because it is the one that triggered the idea.

This image is pure poetry, and perfectly captures the "conversation with light" that White had used to describe the work of his artistic mentor Alfred Stieglitz. The absolute essence of photographic art.

Yesterday was Minor White's 100th birthday. (1908-1976). White was a poet, both literal and visual. The photo above....Windowsill Daydreaming (1958) is among my all time favorite photographs. Alfred Stieglitz was one of Minor White's artistic mentors, and White described Stieglitz's work as "conversations with light", and clearly White was having one of those conversations himself when he made this photo study of light coming through a kitchen window. To me this image captures the essence of what photography is all about.

Minor White