Gift of the Artist

"A series of photographs that resulted from my desire to deal with light in the most direct way possible. Through the use of a pinhole camera and the manipulation of the photograph’s surface I explore the nature of the “object” being photographed. Things occur during the process of exposing the film that question the mimetic capacity of photography. The clarity of the atmosphere, the time of day, or the day of the year yield variation, yet within this variation there is repetition and sequence. I abandon the most descriptive method of imaging in exchange for one that abstracts the form and incorporates an element of chance, returning to an earlier imaging process in hopes of reclaiming what Walter Benjamin refers to as the “aura” of a photograph. I wish to look directly into the sun and through the process of photographing, turn it into an ephemeral, abstract form intended for contemplation; both as an “object,” the sun itself and the final product of this process, the photograph. All photographs are unique 11x14 inch silver prints with wax surface." Joel Whitaker, 1999