FACING REALITY
Photographic imagery that comes from the world outside involves an intelligent partnership, the camera. Here the machine is an optical extension of the eye, the sensor an analog for memory. With camera in hand, I explore the world around me in search of extraordinary people, places and things.
The American Political landscape is animated by larger than life characters, chosen by the public at large, once every four years. Our process of determining the next President hinges on audio visual information made available to us through a wide variety of media outlets.
“It is true, too, that a certain identity is manifest in all the portraits taken by one photographer. The photographer is searching for identity of his sitter, and also trying to fulfill an expression of himself. The true portrait emphasizes neither the suave nor the grotesque, but reflects the personality.”
– The Decisive Moment, Henri Cartier-Bresson, 1952
What I love most about photography is that it really happened. I take pleasure in simple factual testimony, the authenticity of our shared cultural experience, the majesty of the animal kingdom, the grandeur of the American west, the face, the athleticism of the ballet, electron microscopic studies of the infinitely small, astrophotography of the most distant galaxies, the spectacle of human anatomy, the urban jungle, the historic moment frozen in time, seeing the unseen.
The 2020 Presidential Election is an extraordinary opportunity to engage and participate in the American political imagination. Events leading up to the election have a grip on me. I am compelled to converge, focus and concentrate on the faces of the campaign. Who will capture the hearts and minds of the American public? In search of the quintessential portrait. The face is the narrative–the story of the face and the face of the story–the enigma behind the mask.
