365 days, Day 136

Look and think before opening the shutter. The heart and mind are the true lens of the camera (Yousuf Karsh)

There is only you and your camera. The limitations in your photography are in yourself, for what we see is what we are (Ernst Haas)

As I have practiced it, photography produces pleasure by simplicity. I see something special and show it to the camera. A picture is produced. The moment is held until someone sees it. Then it is theirs (Sam Abell)

The camera can photograph thought (Dirk Bogarde)

Capturing a moment in time is rather empowering. That moment is like an insect being fossilised in amber for eternity.

I remember watching a documentary on Annie Leibovitz and noticing how she manages to capture the soul of her subject. Her photographs have that extra je ne sais quoi that most other photographers just don’t have. The photographs of Eugene Atget (1857 - 1927) also have an enigmatic quality to them. They both have a true gift for seeing and capturing that indefinable extraordinary soul of the moment. Their work is inspirational for me.

I have loved using a camera in my art work. Like a child I cannot wait to see how the images I have captured are going to come out. I am often disappointed with my results though, because I do not always manage to capture the exquisite moment that I see with my eyes: I have so much still to learn. I would really like a long zoom lens to capture things that I can see in the distance and want to bring closer. I particularly enjoy close-ups, because there is an element of abstract in the picture when taken up close and out of context.

Photographs have formed the basis of most of my art works, either providing inspiration or forming part of the actual art work. I am revisiting my art journals for inspiration for a new art work. Delicious little journeys, with moments of surprise and delight at the moments in time and space that I have captured in the past.

I will continue to capture my little world that I see to be held for a time in the future, when I will revisit and be enchanted with the fossilised moment.