I started taking photographs 40 years ago in high school using a couple of old cameras that my father had lying around. When I first went through the process of shooting a photo, developing the negative, exposing photo paper and having that image magically appear on that paper it was one of the most amazing things I had ever experienced. As I worked with those cameras and in the darkroom I learned that photography was a way that I could take hold of the things I saw around me, the way I saw them, and share them with others.
I began working with black and white film, then experimented with infrared film to expand the range of what could be shown in a black and white image. Some of my favorite images remain those early infrared and black and white shots. When I began working in color, first with film and later with digital, I found it both challenging and rewarding because of the additional dimension possible in my images. My first love will always be the black and white format with its graphic nature and ability at times to show things that we only subconsciously perceive.
There is give and take when choosing between film and digital, but with digital I have no fear and am able to shoot any image that catches my eye. The results - good or bad - are immediate.
I can work with a digital image as I would in a darkroom, but with more agility. This freedom to try different things, looking at all of my options, allows me to explore my take on the beauty in the ordinary things in our world freely and without hesitation.
I have been influenced by many artists working in many mediums: Edward Weston showed us the sensuality he noticed in the ordinary things; and his son, Brett Weston, refined his father’s approach and expanded the scope of his images. Ansel Adams not only created fantastic images, but gave us a myriad of technical milestones. Diane Arbus and Alfred Eisenstaedt, pointed out people and things we would normally walk by every day. Edward Hopper, through his paintings, using strong lines and simple shapes, free of clutter and with the expert use of light, reminds us of where to look for beauty. Jackson Pollack captured patterns of light, dark, color, shape and movement. I continually look for these abstract images in the real world.
For me, creating art through photography bridges the gap between the real world and what you might find expressed in a painting, through reflection and light. I am fascinated by the things I see and I am compelled to capture them.
Roy Kauffman
BIOGRAPHY
