Outsiders

A photograph captures a singular moment of time that can never be revisited. I am particularly interested in what photography fails to capture: the moments occurring before, after, and invisibly within the event. These moments do not persist in any tangible form. Time passes and all that remains is a mere reference to what once was. Film, especially in cinema, attempts to reanimate these lost moments. I look to photography as a tool for commentary on film. Cinema attempts to expand on a narrative over time. I explore photography’s capacity to condense narrative and drama into a singular frame. Through light and shadow I inject drama into scenes and reference the style of the silver screen.

This project, entitled Outsiders, explores photography’s capacity to imply narrative both within and beyond the frame. Working exclusively at night with a large format camera and only available light, I capture figures in eerie solitude, detached from their peers in moments of introspection. The large format camera and slow-speed slide film demand a slow and taxing photographic process, with long and precise exposures. My subjects must be absolutely still. Characters become meditative, given lengths of time to look within themselves. They appear casual and spontaneous, but with demeanors of quiet stillness. Their stares are detached and distant. I explore this tension between the natural and the artificial, the spontaneous and the choreographed. The images appear to be moments of brief pause in an unraveling story, much like the narratives often found in film. But, unlike in film, this story is unknown, lost in the darkness in which these characters find themselves consumed.