My photography is about the study of light and subtle relationships within a scene. Like the traditional Japanese poetry form of Haiku, my photography is an attempt to communicate the natural beauty in the everyday world around us that often goes unnoticed in our modern, usually hectic lives. By slowing down and seeing deeply, I am attempting to distill the visual chaos into a photographic image that reveals the essence or true nature of its subject

I use only available light to capture my images on large or medium format film. The quiet light that I seek demands exceptionally long exposures, often keeping the lens open for more than 30 minutes at a time. While the lens is held open, the effects of time and movement are allowed to accumulate and participate in the imagery ­ creating a mood quite different from normal daylight photography. Additionally, photographic film exhibits unusual behavior under these extreme exposure conditions, often resulting in an increase in contrast and helping to create an “etched” look and feel to the image.

I believe that the printing of each negative constitutes the “performance” of the idea captured on film. I will never outsource this critical part of the process. I print each of my toned silver-gelatin photographs myself in a traditional darkroom using time-tested techniques and craft.

To celebrate the event of printing further, I have developed an unusual technique that I call “reAction”printing. In this process I apply the development chemicals like the action painters of the 50’s, exploiting the elements of chance by dripping, splattering, and wiping the chemicals into the exposed photographic paper. Unusual reactions happen resulting in beautiful color shifts and deep layering that can create a sense of motion, life or power in a nominally quiet image. Each of the resulting images is completely unique and one-of-a-kind.

Andrew has his studio in Conway, a small hill-town near the Berkshires in western Massachusetts.

A PDF version of my Curriculum Vitae is available here : CV