The Return on to Photograph

“He who seeks does not find, but he who does not seek will be found.”
| Franz Kafka

What do I receive from photography?

Photography means a lot to me. I can even hardly do without. Deep inside of me I feel a desire to photograph and all my photographs mean a lot to me. Potentially more than I can express to others. In a way photography frees and teaches me.

Photography frees me from past, frees me from the future, from worries, and complexity. Most of the time, I start out with a plan, am well prepared through Google Earth, hiking, satellite and light maps and pre-visualized certain scenes. When I am however out there in the field, I loose any goal that would only be in the way to find. Wandering around I’ll wait to be inspired by something getting my attention. These objects come to me. And I try to erase out everything disturbing around the object and compose in a way to only add the few elements that might build a relationship with this object. Photography frees me, because I am not searching. Being found however is an epiphany of every photographer.

Photography teaches me, because I probably always model my inner world through the process of “making the image” to quote Anselm Adams.  Most of the time I start out with a plan. Later, I  then realize that the photograph is telling me what I needed to know about myself a while ago.

These lines were inspired by watching the phenomenal short documentary “I Needed Color” about Jim Carrey. If you haven’t seen it yet, have a look. If you have seen it, watch it again.

What do you need?