Time

I have used my camera as a time capsule where I chronicle the moments and stories of my life, returning to look at time that has passed by. Now, I find myself focused on the present as I press the shutter button. I look for the story before me and know when it is revealed in a moment.

Time plays itself out in so many ways in photography. It can freeze a moment in time forever that I can return to whenever I want. It can catch a moment of a person’s experience in time that tells their story better than words ever could. Time is also controlled in the shutter speed, freezing motion or blurring the path of motion.

One of the photographers I love is Jay Maisel. He talks about “gesture” as more than motion. Here is a lovely video of Jay talking about gesture and photography. For me, gesture is the story that is conveyed in the motion in the image.

When I go for a walk with my camera, I am looking for gesture, the moment, the gesture that holds the story. It is like going on safari, a journey of discovery. That discovery always arrives in an instant. It is an unexpected revelation of something that stops me and I just look at what is shown to me.

It is why I am a photographer.