Only Ten Seconds

When I step in front of my camera to create a self-portrait, I have only ten seconds in which to reincarnate a feeling, convey a message, retell part of my personal history, or share hopes for my future. I never use a remote. I intentionally give myself only ten seconds because, in my experience, that has been the best way for me to give myself fully to the moment. I am able to suspend all thoughts and all efforts at achieving a pre-calculated result in the spontaneous urgency to create. I think I have always been happiest when engaging my creativity in this spontaneous way. It is what feels most natural to me. It is also very exciting.

The limited time seems to connect me with something beyond myself. My heart races as the timer on my camera ticks away. I inhale deeply and let my body move with the moment. It is in that very instant that I feel most alive! Almost as if my existence itself was tangibly nourished by expressing myself artistically. As if my art were food for my soul. Perhaps this would explain why I have always felt such intense urges to create!

Ever since I can remember I’ve sought to express myself, and share those expressions with others. The dialogue I have entered into with others as a result of my photography has been most rewarding. But it is also a dialogue that not only reaches out into the outside world, but it seeks to communicate within me as well. In creating self portraits I seek to enter into a rich dialogue with myself that excludes all judgements. It is raw and accepting, and it embraces everything I wish to express without first estimating it’s value. It is part of a total surrender to my creations, and it constantly challenges me to expand my comfort zones and just be myself! I create art to discover how much there really is to who I am. When I hear my camera’s ten second timer clicking away, the possibilities of what may manifest seem endless: like a whole galaxy being born from within me.

Uninhibitedly I continue to explore these uncharted regions of my being, and return from my journeys with little maps of the places I have explored. These maps are my photographs and I invite you to experience them.