Jeffrey

About Jeffrey

I photograph a wide variety of subjects for my personal pleasure, but I am mostly focused on urban landscapes and industrial decay ... New Topographics-type stuff, but not quite. I like to photograph familiar scenes in unfamiliar ways, literally presenting them in a different light.

For more than a decade now, I've been photographing almost exclusively at night because: 1) Thanks to a then-very busy day job (as well as looking after my elderly father and disabled sister), this was the only time of day I had available for photography, and 2) I've truly come to enjoy the very different look / mood / feel that nighttime light provides my photos.

About prints: I love them! For me, a photograph doesn't truly exist until it's printed on paper, so I'm happy to make prints available to others. My preferred sizes are 12"x16" or 10"x15", depending upon the format of the camera I used, but I can usually print larger or always print smaller if necessary. If you're interested in acquiring a print, drop me a note, as I'm sure we can negotiate an arrangement that will make both of us happy (usually a print swap, where you give me one of yours for one of mine, but I will happily accept cash, too!) :-)

As for comments, I appreciate them regardless of whether you like a photo or not. In fact, as much as I enjoy reading praise for my photos -- and who doesn't? -- I actually prefer to read comments that question or challenge me, as I learn from them, and learning, combined with practice, is what will ultimately make me a better photographer. So please don't be shy and do feel free to share with me your thoughts!

On the other hand, please don't be offended if I don't "return the favor" and comment on your photos in return. I'm not anti-social -- well, not completely! -- but I approach art in a very intuitive manner (i.e., on a gut level, without much forethought or analysis) and as such, I struggle to respond to what is a visual medium in a non-visual way. Frankly, I simply don't feel qualified or comfortable to discuss art ... if I had more facility with the written word, then I wouldn't need to take photographs!

Photography Equipment

Although I have very definite preferences about the equipment I use and none of it has been chosen casually or haphazardly, sharing that information here somehow seems inappropriate in view of this site's emphasis on photos and not camera gear. Enjoy my photos (or not, as the case may be) for what they are and if you really want to know more about the gear I used to capture the photons of light reproduced here or any of my digital darkroom techniques, then drop me a note and I'll answer any questions you have.

I suppose this is also the place where I should also point out that every photo you see here has been "processed" in my "digital darkroom" to some extent, just as my film-based photos were back in the days when I still printed them using traditional wet-chemical technology.

Because I consider my photos documentary in nature, I'm intentionally restrained about what I'm willing to do to them and I absolutely draw the line at cloning objects out of a photo (not even a cigarette butt!) or compositing elements into them, or engaging in any of the HDR or filter-based shenanigans that have become so common these days.

If you see something in one of my photos -- be it a building, a cloud, a shadow, or even a piece of trash -- then you can be confident that's how the scene existed when I photographed it. My goal in processing photos is to compensate for the limitations of today's technology and share with the viewer in two dimensions the experiences I have personally had in three, rather than using photography as a alternative to painting or drawing in order to realize an image that exists only in my head. YMMV...