Mirth

“If we may believe our logicians, man is distinguished from all other creatures by the faculty of laughter. He has a heart capable of mirth, and naturally disposed to it.”- Joseph Addison I am not an abstractionist. I am not interested in the relationship of color or form or anything else. Beyond the elements of composition, color (or tones of black & white), and the connotions of art, the images carry a wealth of associations, metaphorical meaning and emotional colorings. I feel attracted to the genuine mirth in people when I meet them for the first time. It can be sensed as something almost vivid and penetrating, however it has a fleeting nature and only shows up when the photographer’s perception is pure and the mind and heart are present and embracing the world as if encountering it for the very first time. This is the mirth I try and capture in my images. It has been a process for me to develop a pure perception; vision without any biases, filters or formulas often associated with photography, and it has allowed me to be more available to my experiences and expressions of day to day moments in a more richer and endlessly varied sense. I take photographs when it feels right, capturing faces and places, not quite knowing where my work takes me. I have no corporate backing, and no directive from any group to go forth and change the world. It is my effort to remain true to finding beauty and joy where one may only see deprivation, above all else, I like to capture the strength of human spirit. I was inspired by the global movement of Help Portrait and decided to offer free portraits to friends, family and communities that I had the opportunities to travel to. These images are a few of thousands of images and wonderful people I’ve had the wonderful opportunity to interact with and I’ll try and keep updating these images whenever I get some time besides my full-time work.