Scout
16x20 Archival Ultrachrome Print © 2007

Neighborhood Walks

For a long while, I have made images that contain text.  Some have included a few words, some many.  Words are one way that I find I can convey my thoughts and feelings to support or add to visual statements.  Lately, I have found a desire to return to the power of the image alone, allowing the viewer to create stories of their own making, rather than being led to an idea or emotion.  I am increasingly interested in exploring the notion that if I trust my intuition and vision, the images that speak to me will carry a strength or conviction that is capable of being transmitted to anyone who might view them.  I am remembering that in the very beginning of my photographic education, it was the notion of “Equivalents” put forth by Alfred Stieglitz and later picked up by Minor White that thrilled me, impassioned me and made me feel that I had found my artistic home.  It was that idea that the everyday, the scenes passed by repeatedly, etc. could portray through their visual execution something more than what they were.  That emotion, psychological experience and some reflection of the self in a global way could be achieved through the viewing of a photograph.  While the images in “Neighborhood Walks” are not abstractions totally divorced from everyday reality or function, my aim is to elevate the scenes I am recording to have an emotional or psychological content.  This is done through the manner of printing to add a somewhat dark palette that, to my mind, increases their mystery and therefore ability to make the viewer wonder and associate to them. The walks I take when photographing have taken on somewhat of a meditative practice in that I am not striving for a particular idea or subject, but listening to the environment, and seeing with fresh eyes each time I go out.

Some of the images are taken with a medium format traditional camera, and some with a digital SLR.  I am using the digital darkroom to work with them, but only with traditional type tools (e.g. dodging and burning).  The last piece of the process is to print the images on a large format inkjet printer using a variety of profiles put together to create a particular tonal range and feel. It has been a process of trial and error and experimentation to arrive at the combination I am now using.

Patricia Sandler © 2007 All rights reserved.