Artist's Statement:
A Place In The Sun began with my documenting of rites of passage. From the beginning I realized it was a broad subject. We share the journey of life as it relates to our time on earth, rites of passage or not. I wanted to capture images never seen before yet familiar through subject or situation, with a mild sense of deja vu. I think of the new McDonald's employee dumping the grease bin as a form of initiation, similar to marriage. The same is true of young adults signing their first apartment lease, or students at a binge drinking party.
I chose verse for the accomanpying text because poetry creates as close a visualization as possible using simple text. Poetry can deliver a message with more emotion than news writing. I am using poetry in an attempt to rediscover the roots of the bardic tradition, which could be considered an ancient ancestor of photojournalism.
This doesn't mean I'm trading in my digital camera for a clay pot of berry pigment or an old wooden camera mechanism. I am trying to do more to convey the emotion, or lack of emotion, in a situation through graphic imagery and words (spoken if possible). My hope is to convey a message deciphered by each person individually.
