Phil Coleman
Phil Coleman
www.PhilColemanPhotography.com
Phil is at Studio #8 during the 2022 POST tour.
Masks are optional but appreciated in this studio.
I am a visual artist whose favorite "brush" is a camera. Just as a painter's brush is simply a tool needed to create the painting, so is a camera merely my tool with which I make my "painting." My goal is an image, derived from the scene before me, but transformed by my camera and in the digital "darkroom." When I click the shutter, I am only beginning the process of altering the "reality" of the scene, a reality already distorted by my choice of where I stand, how the light falls, and the technical details of lens, what is in focus, what I put in the viewfinder, etc. To complete the process, I use the digital darkroom to overcome the limitations of the camera. The final print should, if I succeed, convey a feeling about the world that was before me when I took the picture. But my intent is not to document that world.
I make many prints for which most viewers would say that the print is a recognizable rendition of reality - even though they may not be aware of how much I have changed that reality. But I am always on the lookout for a scene that I think I can transform into a visually interesting print that, clearly or subtly, is an "altered" reality.
www.PhilColemanPhotography.com
Phil is at Studio #8 during the 2022 POST tour.
Masks are optional but appreciated in this studio.
I am a visual artist whose favorite "brush" is a camera. Just as a painter's brush is simply a tool needed to create the painting, so is a camera merely my tool with which I make my "painting." My goal is an image, derived from the scene before me, but transformed by my camera and in the digital "darkroom." When I click the shutter, I am only beginning the process of altering the "reality" of the scene, a reality already distorted by my choice of where I stand, how the light falls, and the technical details of lens, what is in focus, what I put in the viewfinder, etc. To complete the process, I use the digital darkroom to overcome the limitations of the camera. The final print should, if I succeed, convey a feeling about the world that was before me when I took the picture. But my intent is not to document that world.
I make many prints for which most viewers would say that the print is a recognizable rendition of reality - even though they may not be aware of how much I have changed that reality. But I am always on the lookout for a scene that I think I can transform into a visually interesting print that, clearly or subtly, is an "altered" reality.
I live near Corvallis, Oregon with a view of the beautifully forested coastal range. A good part of many days is spent taking photographs and preparing them for prints. Years ago, I used a chemical darkroom. Now the digital darkroom gives me even better control of the final print. Sometimes my photos go almost straight from camera to print. Just as often, I make drastic changes before the print appears. But all the time I want to delight (or puzzle!) the viewer's eye with color, shape and texture, perhaps of ordinary things seen in a new way.
My favorite subjects are nature and the people and places I see on my travels.
With every photograph I take, my goal is an image that will resonate in your mind, that strikes a visual "chord" in you like a great song.
My favorite subjects are nature and the people and places I see on my travels.
With every photograph I take, my goal is an image that will resonate in your mind, that strikes a visual "chord" in you like a great song.
