Photography as an Act of Seeing

Beyond the technical, it is a practice of patience and empathy.

For me, photography is not about the camera. It is not about the lens, the aperture, or the shutter speed. Those are merely the tools of the trade, the grammar of the language. The true essence of photography, its soul, is the act of seeing. It is a profound, meditative practice of being present in a moment and recognizing its inherent narrative, its quiet emotional weight.

In a world saturated with ephemeral images, my goal is to create work that endures. I am not interested in capturing the “decisive moment” in the traditional sense; I am interested in capturing the “honest moment.” This is the space between the public facade and the private self, the fleeting micro-expression, the way a person’s posture shifts when they believe no one is watching. My camera is a tool for empathy. It is my license to observe, to connect, and to listen.

A Dual-Medium Approach: Film & Digital

Choosing the right medium for the story.

My photographic process is intentionally divided between two distinct mediums: 35mm analogue film and high-resolution digital. This is not a choice based on nostalgia, but a strategic decision based on the story I am telling.

The Soul of Film: ‘Urban Isolation’ Series

For my personal work, particularly the ‘Urban Isolation’ series, I shoot exclusively on 35mm film (Kodak Tri-X 400). The limitations of film are, in fact, its greatest strengths. A roll of 36 exposures forces a deliberate, meditative approach. It slows me down. I cannot hide behind an endless burst of the shutter; every frame must be considered. The process itself—the manual focus, the physical advance of the film, the anticipation of the developed negative—is a ritual that connects me deeper to the subject. The resulting image is not just pixels; it is a physical artifact. The grain, the contrast, and the subtle imperfections are not flaws; they are the photograph’s unique signature, lending a timeless, tactile quality that digital cannot replicate.

The Precision of Digital: Editorial & Commissioned Work

For my editorial and commercial assignments, I am a digital pragmatist. The demands of a client—speed, flexibility, and absolute precision—are best met with a high-resolution digital workflow. Here, my obsession shifts from capturing the moment to *crafting* the image. I use a medium format digital camera to capture an astonishing range of detail, light, and color. The post-processing phase is where the image is truly found. In Capture One and Photoshop, I work like a painter, meticulously shaping light, color grading to evoke a specific mood, and ensuring every pixel aligns with the creative brief. This is where my photographic eye merges with my digital art background, creating images that are both hyper-realistic and subtly painterly.

Light as the Subject, The Figure as the Narrative

My work oscillates between two primary subjects: the human portrait and the urban landscape.

The Environmental Portrait

I rarely shoot in a sterile studio. I prefer to photograph people in their own environment—their home, their studio, their place of work. The space around a person is not just a backdrop; it is an extension of their identity. The books on their shelf, the art on their wall, the way the light from *their* window falls on their face… these details tell a story that a simple headshot never could. My ‘Editorial Portraits’ series is a collection of these environmental studies, from artists and architects to musicians and writers. The goal is to collaborate with the subject to create an image that feels authentic to who they are.

The Spontaneous Street

Street photography is my sketchbook. It is my daily practice of seeing. In the ‘Street & Spontaneity’ series, I am not looking for people, but for compositions. I am hunting for geometry, for moments where light, shadow, and human form align for a fraction of a second. A long shadow from a cyclist, a figure framed perfectly in a distant doorway, a reflection in a puddle that merges the sky with the pavement—these are the moments that excite me. It is an exercise in finding the extraordinary in the mundane, and it keeps my eye sharp for all my other work.