In college I studied photography and fell in love with Jerry Uelsmann. I took four semesters of film photography and studied a lot of Uelsmanns work. He was an outstanding photographer, but his skills shined in the darkroom where he created works of art by combining different shots, at different times, exposed at the most perfect spot in the enlarger and creating new worlds. His technique and works were a mystery and inspiration.
For my film project first year I explored the technique of creating collages in the darkroom, no digital aspect would touch my film work. My first tries were less than perfect… to say the least. His technique and talent were far beyond mine, I wanted to create collages just as mysterious and eye opening as him.
My final project for that semester went well, after that I decided to look at the world around me for the mysterious world that Uelsmann showed me. From the play of light and shadow, shapes and hidden worlds so small that people overlook them, I could show the mystery of life in my photography.
For ten years I looked through a lens of a camera at every minute detail shooting the earth, the people, the objects in different light, different angles, close up, far away, in color or black and white. I focused so much on the shot, the composition and showing the hidden worlds, I loved sharing the mystery of the world no one could see.
I have since put down the big camera because the mystery got lost to me, always being behind the camera, living in the lens, not the moment. But I still see the mystery of the world around me, the lighting, the composition, the colors of the world, but now I see them in the moment.
~Candice C Carver
How wonderful- to be able to look at the mysterious through a different lense or a different perspective. There is lots to learn here..
The arts are a portal to perception. Once you are exposed and or experienced with the alternate point of view( Through art), it can reset those grooves in your brain that can grow from a groove to a rut in the way we perceive. The lens, the brush, the stage and the ivory keys can create a separation between you and the beauty you behold, yet it can meld you to the sensation just by your attention in the moment. Whatever the process, the arts are a portal to the way we see, hear and relate to life’s beautiful novelty, it just brings perception to the fore and gives us a little ownership without the tools of our trade at hand. We can have the moment, because the arts have trained us to see it !