Representing Response

Untitled 2010 Stephan P. Ferreira

I have been trying to find ways to capture my direct experience using photography. The immediate and emotional responses are different than the resulting image. I've zoomed in our out. The camera has framed it away from everything else. And sometimes it's that everything else that created the experience. I'm left with something the camera saw but not my reaction.

Untitled 2010 Stephan P. Ferreira

 I have the same disconnect sometimes with paintings. Where did everything that exists inbetween go? Perhaps the resulting image is  strong, but they don't exist very long for me when I can identify how much unlike they are to the way I remember something.

Sometimes the figurative or the identifiable things in the photos tend to make me believe the images less. This is often why I avoid words - or things I recognize to begin with. But then later when looking at the image I've seen I've also removed all context.

I took the photo of those cabinets at a large office furniture warehouse. There was a man struggling with a bunch of metal racks in the pit of the store. Metal noise and grunting. And these stacked fixtures appeared to be just cold, stiff and quiet. The same reaction you might have if hearing an argument through the wall.

There is an entire process - and in the case of walking: there is the physicality of it, perhaps the sunlight or a chill, maybe getting lost and then finally reacting. The journey to finding the photo. I'm still trying to find out how I represent my initial response.

Untitled 2010 Stephan P. Ferreira