Over the last few years, my thoughts have become a lot more clear on the meaning of a photograph. I’ve been collection thoughts and feedback from my print buyers and in the process of telling stories about my own images to prospective print buyers it becomes quite clear that we can form deep connections with a Photograph, images as a whole I imagine. Specifically though my thoughts relate to Photographs and particularly Landscape Photographs.
Every week I hear from people who are looking or indeed have found an image that they connect with on an emotional level. Whether that’s simply because they are inspired at the visual aesthetic of the image or, and this is the most important element, the image ignites a memory, an experience within them. I’ve spent years being on one side of that conversation, hearing print buyers thoughts and feelings about one of my images and what it means to them. Recently, I asked myself which of my images ignite that emotional response in me? After a bit of thought, I loosely concluded that all the images presented on my website for sale I have a positive connection too. They remind me exactly of the day I made that image, it’s like a secret door into a memory you’d otherwise not think about again. Such is the power of a photograph.
Looking deeper into this I began to focus in on which one particular image is it of mine that carries the most weight, means the most, makes me feel what my collectors feel. I came to the conclusion that the image presented here is that image for me. It sits head and shoulders above everything else.
So, what is it about this particular image that ignites within me such an emotional connection? It is, by all means, a very simple image. A self-portrait of such. It’s not in anyway egotistical and it’s not about me, it captures a moment in time that triggers my imagination, my most precious memories and for me, it represents the most wonderful moment of calm, of peace, of acceptance and of love. In my mind, I’m very clear on what this image represents to me, had you of looked at it in passing without reading this I suspect you’d of not giving it a second glance but for me, it is one of the most important photographs I have ever taken, not for its technical structure but for something way more powerful, for its ability to take me to a place, a moment in time that will forever be in my heart.
I often wonder if time changes our feelings about aesthetic or place. If we forget or change the way we interpret events and those precious memories. If by having a photograph associated with that event or memory does it keep it alive? do we look at it and retell the story, develop it in our minds and keep it alive forever? I also wonder if with the passing of time the fantasy outweighs the reality. Do we become more associated with the dream rather than reality? Do we block out certain facts? Does the association take on a new meaning given the time we invest in imagining/remembering? Whatever the answer is, I feel for me it’s important to have these connections, these secret doorways into memories or experiences or even just escapism and a place where our imagination can simply be free to continue the story or relive it.
I feel so blessed to have such a visual imagination, it is a blessing and indeed a curse at the same time but the overall conclusion is it’s a positive. It allows for the creation of these experiences, it makes them count and it keeps them alive. I do wonder if in time my feelings for this image will change. I can not only see the reality of what this image reminds me of but I can see an alternative version too which is in stark contrast to the peace you see here. I can if I allow myself to dilute this experience, see it from another perspective. I guess it comes down to which part of the big picture you want to focus on, which parts of the scene your mind remembers, which parts you don’t show, don’t say and which parts you block out. I wonder if in time my focus will change.
This is a special photograph to me and it always will be, not for its photographic merit but for its emotional doorway to a moment in time I never wanted to end. By looking at this photograph I am taken back to that time, I can relive it, I can grow it and develop it. The only negative I see is the realisation that it is a memory and not the present moment, but there is in its full what a photograph is, it is immortalising a memory, an experience, a person, a place, a moment in time. Nobody will ever know what this photograph represents to me and what it really means but that isn’t why I made it, it’s for me, as I posted on my Instagram “Every photograph tells an amazing story to at least one person.” So long as that person is you then it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. A balding, overweigh middle-aged man sat on his own on sand dunes with a ghost-like figure sat next to him (lens flair) I don’t think so, it is a secret doorway into the most amazing experience of my life and one that will never be surpassed.
I wait with anticipation to see if in time this photograph loses its appeal if I see it from a different perspective, if it begins to represent something different to what it does today. It’s been a few years already and it’s very much above everything else and so is the memory and what it represents. I hope it will always be and in time it is viewed upon by more than just me as a significant and happy worthwhile memory.
Out of the 1 million plus photographs I must have taken in my life is this the best I’ve ever taken? out of the thousands of prints I’ve sold to collectors all over the world is this the one? the answer to that is no, it’s not about sales, it’s not about views, it’s not about likes. It is though about shares and who you share the image with, who else connects with it. The best photograph I have ever taken out of the millions I have taken I gave away, a true one off. I saw it for a brief second and then gave it away. I can remember it, and it makes me smile, I hope it still exists, as to me it is 1 in a million for many reasons and it always will be. Always and Forever.
