ARTIST STATEMENT

Through my art I search for truth and for meaning, in the most idealistic sense.  In retrospect I believe that I was first interested in photography for its ability to record a type of visual truth.  I soon discovered the difficulties in attempting to define what exactly is meant by the word truth.  It is my interest to explore this boundary within both the medium and myself. 

Photography is often used to document and to record. It is used as a kind of evidence; for example, that this person looked liked this, or this landscape like that and this sunset, like this.  And although photographs are accepted as truth, there are many times, as seen in the tabloids, when truth in photography comes into question.  And as I have no one at this moment I wish to defame or discredit, I devote my work to finding truth.  I mean this in many ways.

With the advent of the digital age, the truthfulness of a photograph is now being called into question more often.  The ability to manipulate is so much easier and so difficult to detect.   I began to ask questions related to this changing medium that I have loved for so many years.  In light of the digital age of photography and all one can do to manipulate images, can a photograph still be considered as documentation of reality, as visual truth?  What do I mean when I use these words truth and reality anyway? Are reality and truth subjective?  Would it not depend on one’s experiences? 

I think, perhaps, the questions I ask are just as important as the answers. They lead me to experiences.  And so I record my experiences with my camera.  In my photographs I hope to reflect what I have learned along the way.  My photographs reflect reality as I see it. Therefore, it makes no difference to me whether or not, or to what degree, an image is manipulated.  It is truth as I see it.
Yet one cannot separate the observer from the observed.  I do not ask, nor do I expect the viewer to find the same truths that I have found, but it is my hope that the viewer will find his or her own truths within my photographs.