The Photograph is an extended, loaded evidence — as if it caricatured not the figure of what it represents (quite the converse) but it’s very existence…The Photograph then becomes a bizarre medium, a new form of hallucination: false on the level of perception, true on the level of time: a temporal hallucination, so to speak, a modest shared hallucination (on the one hand ‘it is not there,’ on the other ‘but it has indeed been’): a mad image, chafed by reality.
– Roland Barthes “Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography” – 1981 – Hill and Wang: New York
I often condition my work as experimental and documentary film forms, but also bridge the two into a sustained hybrid. I’m influenced by a number of disciplines including: philosophy, media theory, visual aesthetics, principles of metaphor, memory, and the dynamic tactility of the medium. I vigorously endorse and defend these characteristics in my filmmaking, adjacent artwork, surrounding research, and academic instruction. I feel that these concepts, along with a strong supporting substance -the medium- provide a foundation for all of my film work and it’s continued development.
Philosophy
I commonly use ideas from philosophers and writers of literature as inspiration to move a film’s elements along. Further, metaphor is commonly used. Evidence can be seen in a number of films including PAPA where traits of Ernest Hemingway are touched upon; …and in the end only one will remain where Vince Lombardi is quoted and theorized; and the works of the flesh series with the use of Walter Benjamin.
Visual Aesthetics
The visceral image can be created by a number of techniques in the darkroom and with the optical printer. This allows for staggering image deconstruction and manipulation. I’m quite fond of using high contrast black and white film. And when using color, I often saturate the images, giving it a painterly effect. Further, the use of multichannel forms, expanded cinema, and blending image layers in my work assists in creating an energetic mold I long for. Of course, based through the medium in use and the implied theme of a film project, I’ll also make use of digital or cross platform media to obtain the right effect.
Memory
Pining for “yesterday” or the “way it used to be” is a concrete theme and concept that proliferates in my work. Whether through a photograph, frame grab, or freeze frame, it’s a “memory” that is, in a sense, a visual unit of storage and is something that sustains the living. Although at different ends of the spectrum of senses, the sound design of my films will also hold hard emotional testimony, again using history as it’s basis for strong representation. Sound is image; image is sound.
Tactility
I’m an advocate for antiquated forms of image making. I’m especially eager to process motion picture film by hand using traditional darkroom techniques following long sessions with an optical printer. Further, my sound recordings are sometimes done using a reel-to-reel. Working in this tangible way allows for dynamic, visceral images accompanied by warm sounds that are not quite achieved in digital form. Still, I extensively work with digital technology due to it’s immediacy, affordability, accessibility, and mobility.
