Sculpture Symposium

This series of photographs was captured in January 2006 at the International Sculpture Symposium presented by the Coral Springs Museum of Art. The sculptors are: Lothar Nickel from Germany carving Portuguese marble, Roy Patterson from Maine carving a granite found in Maine and Armen Agop from Egypt carving Zimbabwe black granite. For the 3 weeks the sculptors worked, I shot over 7000 images and of those, processed 700 of them over the next 2 months. None of photos were staged and all were shot in natural light with the exception of the night shots with Armen.

Knowing the sculptors had a limited amount of time to finish their works, my intention was to be as unobtrusive as possible while shooting. Although it took a little time for the artists to learn to ignore me, it took me a bit longer to learn their individual techniques for carving in order to anticipate a shot. Since I seldom photograph people or moving objects, it was a challenge for me to capture the critical moment and still retain a sense of motion to the shot. Many days were spent practicing for the days when the light was good.

regarding photography

As an artist and particularly a creator of images, I hold no value to the sanctity of the purity of a medium. The camera is a tool for recording light no different than a saw is a tool for cutting wood. By the very nature of the technology of the tool, the accuracy of the image recorded is different than what the eye perceives. My loyalty as an artist is to the finished image exclusively. As a photographer I shoot primarily for one of two purposes. One is to record an image to be viewed as a captured moment regardless of whether the image tells a story or is solely a unique visual composition. The second is to record an image that will be combined with other images in the computer as unique layered composition. These composite images are generally created without a preconceived intent or story, but simply as a stand alone visual statement.