www.seanmurphyphotography.com

smurphy@coa.edu

This is the last edit of a set of photographs I took over the course of the summer of 2006.  I took over 1400 images on twelve different days.  I edited those down to 700 on the first edit (which took two full days); then cut that down to 350; and finally the 70 images on this website (click on the images or filenames to the left to see each image). I found a method while enrolled in a course called Contemplative Photography with George DeWolfe, to take images that remind me somewhat of pinhole photographs with a digital camera.  I have always loved pinhole photographs (as well as those taken by 'leaky' cameras like Holgas, etc) and have experimented with them extensively over the years (I started in photography thirty two years ago, when I was 15).  I have also done a lot of experimenting with alternative chemistry and ground methods in the darkroom as well. After class one day that winter, I was driving home to Ellsworth and was using a technique George taught us; shooting photos without using the viewfinder, 'from the hip'.  It happened to be dusk that day, and when I  uploaded the images to one of my graphics computers at home, I was very surprised at the images.  I've known that digital cameras can produce surreal, blurry, streaky results in low light, somewhat like "B" exposures in low light  with traditional cameras; I found the images  my little digital camera takes while traveling in a car at dusk very exciting.  The trees and houses and other objects closest to the road's edge seemed to 'disappear' into transparent blurs of color that allowed the objects behind to be seen through them.  So, in effect, the objects closest to the road can be 'seen through' while the objects behind them remain relatively solid. As I reviewed the images, I found several themes that particularly interested me.  This 'seeing through' things immediately appealed to me as a symbol of intuition, which I've always experienced as a way of 'seeing through' the sensory world to the world of patterns, emotions, spirit, and intention.  There's also the relation of motion and vision, light and shutter speed, depth and form.  I have been afflicted with severe double vision since I was 14 after a series of six eye operations seriously injured my eyes and left me with one eyelid paralyzed, and my right eye unable to move past the midline in the vertical direction.  I cannot focus my eyes binocularly at all, and have learned to "shut off" one eye or the other with my brain, at the back of the brain where the visual cortex resides.  I also found that I could "turn on" both eyes simultaneously, which results in double vision.  Essentially, it works like layers in Photoshop, where two different images are superimposed (say, the door to my office and my computer screen as I type this).  Through intention, I am able to "adjust" the opacity of each layer (eye) at will, from 0 to 100 percent.  I've noticed that color is perceived differently in each eye also.  In my left eye, colors seem cool, while in my right eye they seem dramatically warmer.  This combination of factors create a  novel sensory phenomenon, but also cause me a low-grade, chronic stress that I could certainly do without.   It has caused me much grief in my life to have impaired vision, especially in the way it came about, through a series of surgical blunders, but it has also caused me to "see" things a little differently than most people. I think the thing I like most about these images is their sense of motion as a metaphor for time.  As I get older, I see my life much more as a blur, where time seems to speed up as each year passes.  When I look at these images they represent that acceleration of time very clearly to me.  I also love the colors, and the way solid objects do not seem solid when photographed in this way.  All buildings fall with time, no matter how well-maintained; nature, friction, gravity, and weather claim everything eventually, regardless of the material.  Instead of inspiring sadness or some morose sense of self-pity, these pictures remind me of the ephemeral quality of experience, life, and form.  In this way, I can continue to feel the deep love, attachment, and affection I have for life;  instead of grief, fear, or even horror over its eventual loss. Initially I intended to produce 10 finished prints during this study, but I ended up with 20 or 30, which I showed in the River Room of the Ellsworth Public Library in November of 2006. I'd like to thank Nancy Andrews for her impressions, advice, and ideas in terms of paring these down even further into a coherent group.  I have many images from the Winter 2005 class to work with also, but I decided to stick with this current set of images for the scope of this project.  Most of the Winter 2005 images are very white and snowy (and also beautiful), while these current images show some of the green of summer, which was a part of my intention and focus this time.  Maine is a profoundly beautiful place in all seasons. It's interesting to note, also, that this technique only works at twilight, fifteen minutes before dark, up until complete darkness, so there is only a fifteen minute window for acquiring the shots, further adding to the ephemeral nature of the images.  I've only taken them in the interval between afternoon and evening.  Perhaps the next series will be where night meets morning. Feel free to contact me with any questions or comments, Sean Murphy