Mac Rowley Photo :: Statement

The majority of my early photographs deal with the landscape and are primarily black and white. Recently, I have been photographing more in color and often while traveling. People and street photography are a continuing fascination. I am constantly searching for patterns and gestures that make an image.

Searching through decades of work revealed several patterns of interest that I was unaware of previously. I find myself drawn over and over to similar locations and subject matter. From these, small portfolios are emerging.

I am drawn to doorways, arches, windows, any type of opening or portal. I have also become aware of a tendency to visually isolate human subjects with architechtural elements such as windows and doorways. From this realization came the recognition of another pattern: pairs of people, couples - visually, physically, definitely emotionally isolated. Locked in a private moment -- oblivious of time, place, or onlookers. I realized that for decades throughout my travels I have been compelled to release the shutter and try to capture this whenever I encounter it.

There are also places I return to again and again, because I am intriuged or haunted by them, because there is a pulse that beckons. New York City, Canyon de Chelly, the Big Bend, the dilapidated schoolhouse on the plains outside of Taiban, New Mexico.

I have recently begun to work digitally, making large giclee prints from scanned negatives and most recently, shooting digitally. This new approach has definetly had an effect on the suject matter and formality of the image. This equipment lends itself to capturing more fleeting compositions than equipment I previously used. This new work is looser, more informal and dynamic than my early landscape work