About The Artist
It was inevitable, I suppose, that someone born into a family of painters and sculptors would find an outlet for their artistic expression one way or another.
For me, that outlet has been the camera - and for over 25 years I have used the colors, textures and relationships that I see in the world to make pictures.
Photography as "Found Art"
I never arrange anything specifically for the camera or ask a subject to pose. Instead, I use the camera to isolate and re-examine what I see in the world - just as it is. By shifting your perspective - even if just a little - I hope to help you experience that subject (and perhaps others too) in a new way.
"You can never go back"
When you look at any photograph it's important to remember that it is a record not only of physical objects and reflected light, but also of a unique moment in time. The difference between a great photograph and a mediocre one may be just the blink of an eye - that fleeting instant that Henri Cartier-Bresson famously referred to as "The Decisive Moment". Not even a millisecond in nature can ever be captured in exactly the same way again, and as light changes and people and objects move or decay, so the image is subtley transformed. Take another look at a picture of even the most static subjects and imagine how the image might change over even the smallest increment of time.
"How does it look upside-down"
Although I don't paint, I still managed to inherit "the painter's eye" and I consider the abstract qualities of any photograph just as important - if not more so - than the subject I'm recording. In fact, as I work with form, color, texture and space I often find myself turning the image around. If it doesn't look good upside down all you have is a snapshot! Try it yourself!
Art or Journalism?
Some photographers take a "journalistic" approach to the medium, using it to tell a story or to convey a social truth through their subjects. While I sometimes want to convey a feeling of place, or an emotion, my images are not usually intended to be documentary in that way. For me, the subject is the means to an end (the image), not the end itself.
My goal is to create images that I would not be embarrassed to hang on the wall next to a fine painting. A tall order, I know, but it's a goal that keeps me constantly learning and improving my craft.
I hope you enjoy the selection of pictures I have included here. There are many more where these came from!
Nick
It was inevitable, I suppose, that someone born into a family of painters and sculptors would find an outlet for their artistic expression one way or another.
For me, that outlet has been the camera - and for over 25 years I have used the colors, textures and relationships that I see in the world to make pictures.
Photography as "Found Art"
I never arrange anything specifically for the camera or ask a subject to pose. Instead, I use the camera to isolate and re-examine what I see in the world - just as it is. By shifting your perspective - even if just a little - I hope to help you experience that subject (and perhaps others too) in a new way.
"You can never go back"
When you look at any photograph it's important to remember that it is a record not only of physical objects and reflected light, but also of a unique moment in time. The difference between a great photograph and a mediocre one may be just the blink of an eye - that fleeting instant that Henri Cartier-Bresson famously referred to as "The Decisive Moment". Not even a millisecond in nature can ever be captured in exactly the same way again, and as light changes and people and objects move or decay, so the image is subtley transformed. Take another look at a picture of even the most static subjects and imagine how the image might change over even the smallest increment of time.
"How does it look upside-down"
Although I don't paint, I still managed to inherit "the painter's eye" and I consider the abstract qualities of any photograph just as important - if not more so - than the subject I'm recording. In fact, as I work with form, color, texture and space I often find myself turning the image around. If it doesn't look good upside down all you have is a snapshot! Try it yourself!
Art or Journalism?
Some photographers take a "journalistic" approach to the medium, using it to tell a story or to convey a social truth through their subjects. While I sometimes want to convey a feeling of place, or an emotion, my images are not usually intended to be documentary in that way. For me, the subject is the means to an end (the image), not the end itself.
My goal is to create images that I would not be embarrassed to hang on the wall next to a fine painting. A tall order, I know, but it's a goal that keeps me constantly learning and improving my craft.
I hope you enjoy the selection of pictures I have included here. There are many more where these came from!
Nick
© Nick Winkworth - absoluteblank.com