Digital Illusionist

To me, photography has always been a lie—from the time you pull the shutter down, you have already cropped out the reality of what you as the photographer may not want to show and kept only what you intended to show. Consider a wide arrangement of action. You center on a part of that picture that interests you and snap the shot; however, all the rest of the action before you has been eliminate—cropped out in the process of taking your photo. I do consider my photography to be a lie, however, a better way to describe it would be an “illusion.” I like to think of myself as a Photo-Illusionist, like a magician. When you see an illusionist you are amazed at what you visually see—it seems real to you, but any intelligent person knows that there is something going on that they do not understand. This is how I relate my concept of photography—I like to see myself as an illusionist—a photographic illusionist. My photographic illusionist style has been highly influenced by the work of Bryan Niven. In this sense, I like to combine digital photography with the modern day dark room that is Photoshop. I like to digitally manipulate photos using digital illustration, multiple photos, and Photoshop to create a collage of part photography and part illustration that combines to create one image. At the same time, I respect all forms of photography, however this is the side of photography that I am passionate about.