Con-Artist

Photographers take pictures of the world and its properties and make them art by adding elements to the image that inspire human emotion. The art of photography is not capturing what is (in terms of nature), but what is to us [humans/the mind]… and with that, we con.

We are conartists.

A landscape becomes beautiful because it looks, and afterwards feels, natural (within the context of human interpretation). A portrait is simply an image of a person, but in the eyes of some it can become art when the artist is capable of using their skill to help the 2-dimensional image (the portrait) transcend a physical meaning into a physiological dimension (the mind) - by this point, instilling emotion.

These are such big words for such a simple process of composing the frame around a subject and then pressing the shutter button. But this is exactly what research in photography covers: the relationship to the images we create and even more obscure topics that include the study of diaspora relating to the artist and even more obscure topics like the relationship between an object and its name. 

I personally judge the greatness of my art, and vice versa, on the depth of its content. Some of my art is only meant to represent a small puddle for the viewer to cool off in after being in the hot sun that is the social world (sometimes, even our own minds). But some of the other works I've composed represent much more than a little trickle of water; my deeper work is meant to be a spring, a spring that gushes inspiration from its origins and whets the appetite of the viewer but makes them desire more once they realize how much there is left to experience. 

I'm still a toddler in this world of thought, but that won't stop me from writhing out of the muck and reaching for the stars in that dark yet profound sky that is the mind and the world around it. Each step forward consists of experiences, and with each experience I'll be there with a camera at hand to photograph what I see, as well as inadvertently marking where I currently am, and, eventually, where I was.

My goal as an artist is to experience. To grow and create a physical representation of the metaphysical thoughts within my mind, and others. I hope to create images that resurrect the soul out from the daily miasma that sinks us into lifeless repetition and brings forth a human with desire for more out of themselves. 

Escape the voluntary prison

I hope to do many things - that is part of being young - but even that thought is a trap because the older minds aren't lacking of curiosity. We may find insecurity when dealing with obscurity but everything was once obscure; water was once a mystery to our minds, but once we quenched our thirst with it, it was no longer obscure and had now become secure in our minds as a source of life and continuation. 

The only security I have in my photography is my camera and my skill; that is the exact reason why I don't edit my own photography and only use my camera's computer to process it. Everything else is obscure, but within that I'll find the solid path and that alone is enough to inspire me.

Work alongside life