Documenting absence

My Scholarship entry - A 'place' I have visited

Poland | Wednesday, July 3, 2013 | 5 photos

“When I grow up, I’ll be a wildlife photographer or a marine biologist.” Unfortunately, it didn't happen. I’m becoming a historian, instead. But don’t take me wrong, I love it! Searching archives and documenting the past is both challenging and fascinating. Words are a powerful tool of creation and communication. So are photographs.

A couple of years ago, when I realized that I would probably never take great photos of whales’ tales and moose’s antlers, I started shooting people and landscapes. I never stopped: from buildings in decay in the Lower East Side of New York City, to farmers in Mexico, through glaciers in Alaska. Discovering, marveling, enjoying, and immortalizing the grace, the majesty, or the desolation of these urban, rural or wild environments, with the hope of sharing feelings and lessons with those who stayed at home, is what drives me to continue. With no formal training in photography though, I do what I can with what I have and what I know. Although I always strive to make – rather than take – pictures, I know that I lack technique. This is what I hope to gain from this scholarship.