The University of Rhode Island

My Photo scholarship 2010 entry

Worldwide | Sunday, October 17, 2010 | 5 photos

The most important aspect of a photograph is that it properly reflects not only a situation and a subject, but also says something of the artist. After studying photography for the past few years, I have found the ability to take black and white photographs that represent the images I see in the real world. I realize, however, that to succeed at modern photography I must also master the infinite complexities of color. While I have taken many color pictures that I love, I don’t feel like there is a controlled and deliberate aspect to my color photos. 
 
There is probably no better way to approach the study of color than to look at how it is represented in a culture. The separation of my ancestors from those of the Bhutanese tens of thousands of years ago has left the country's inhabitants with a perception of the world far different than my own. They live according to a history divergent from the past that dictates much of what I have come to know as society. Consequently, the appearance and interpretation of color in Bhutan is very different than in the United States, where its meaning is often based more on its commercial rather than anthropologic values. Given the opportunity, I'd like to explore those differences, while expanding my knowledge of color photographic methods.

I have submitted a series of photographs that I took during my last semester at the University of Rhode Island. The files are straight from the camera. They speak of times and places and how I fit into them, telling my own story as part of a much larger one of a school and its community. To have the chance to capture a moment that somehow speaks of the nearly unbelievable circumstances of life that have brought light to my eye is a truly momentous thing, and is what photography is all about.