Photography

“Portrait Photography and Intimacy”

Portraits, I believe, should be up-close and personal. Hence my use of a short tele lens which shows the face – and especially the eyes, the windows of the subject's Soul. (And they should show the whole head, for cutting off the subject's head actuates in our unconscious the feeling that the person has been the victim of an attack.)

“My Work: To Reveal the Ordinary as Instances”

I have long felt very close to the poetry of Po Chu’i (778-846), the most popular poet of the T’ang dynasty, the great age of Chinese poetry. Burton Watson writes of his “rapt appreciation of the ordinary,” which profoundly influenced not only the poets of China but also of Korea and Japan – including, I believe, the haiku poets.

“Photographing the Apparently Disordered”

We can photograph the “ordered woods and gardens” – as most do. I much prefer the apparently disordered – the rust, the “junk.” And, hopefully, through it the Higher Order.

“With Every Photograph I Should Feel Love”

All that matters is love. With every photograph I should feel loved and give it.

“My Intention When Photographing”

The subject-matter of a photograph doesn't matter, for every one is an instance of God. My role is to make this Basic Truth obvious.

“(Most of the time) I Love People”

(Most of the time) I love people, that's why I photograph them.

“Photograph Light”

Photograph light...

“Without Misprocessing, God Is Obvious Everywhere”

If an average person looks at a low energy, even unloving, painting he will be put into that negative state. But if he closes his eyes for, say, a few minutes, then he will behold it as an Instance of God.

“The Matrotrophic Photographer”

From the Greek tropos, a turning, is derived our tropism, a turning movement of an organism. So phototropism is an organism, especially a plant or a tree, turning towards the light. And as a photographer, I turn to the light: always aware of it, always relating to it.

“The Relationship, Not the Name”

I dislike the word subject for whatever, whoever, I photograph. It is so cold, clinical – and can have a sense of being subject to me, as if I am in command, its master.