Through unposed photographs of everyday dramas, my series “Short Stories” brings out the fleeting scenes in life that otherwise pass us by. I use analog processes in my work to help me slow down, look at the world around me, and make more considered choices. Isolating these spontaneous episodes in solitary images takes them out of time and place, which frees us to fully digest their subtle details and infuse each moment with new significance and symbolism. I am interested in balanced, structured compositions, as in the work of street and documentary photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Saul Leiter, and James Ravilious. I made the photographs in “Short Stories” on 35mm black-and-white film (primarily Ilford HP5 Plus) using a motley collection of old SLR and rangefinder cameras, and printed them in the darkroom on Ilford fiber paper. These cinematic, ambiguous impressions encourage us to look long and deeply to discover layers of story, character, and meaning.
