As a child I loved to look out the window. Even now I remember the view from every window in my childhood home. Mostly I was fascinated by the way a window could create a picture. I would sit and stare through the glass framing and reframing the view as I tilted my head. In the car I tried to catch and separate the moving images as they sped past. I'm still fascinated by windows and their enticing views and this series of photographs shares some of what I’ve seen.
I'm a passionate person and I wish to convey that passion through my art. Yet the very nature of photography requires one to step back and observe rather than be part of the action. I chose windows as an expression of this duality because of the contradictions inherent in their functions. By definition a window is an opening but it’s also an enclosure. It can reveal or conceal a view. It invites the world to enter yet protects us from its forces. The glass can be transparent or reflective. It allows light to flood in or spill out. Through its panes we are the observer or the observed.
The images in this series are frequently quite complex but are balanced by the use of strongly defined vertical and horizontal lines and bold super-saturated colours which give them a graphic crispness.
All of these photographs were taken quickly. I didn't set up my shots and they were almost always hand-held. Although I utilized the full spectrum of digital darkroom techniques I didn't create these photographs from multiple images. What you see in the photograph is what I saw in my viewfinder.
For me, photography is not an intellectual process but an emotional one. Capturing a photo is exhilarating. Scan, compose, shoot – it’s intuitive, bringing you into the moment, at one with the world, focused and alert. You have to be quick and you only get one chance.
And that is the nature of life. A series of unique moments spooling out like spider’s silk, carried by the winds of chance to distant and unknown connections. A camera captures these moments and allows us to examine them, revel in their beauty and question what is beyond the frame.