Artist Statement
“Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches on the soul
And sings the tune -- without the words,
And never stops at all”
-Emily Dickinson
I have been fascinated by hope ever since I read this quote by Emily Dickinson years ago. I marvel at the small, yet significant role hope plays in every day life. I am convinced that hope is a part of everything we do, but often times we are unable to recognize its gentle presence because we are caught up with everything else in life. This portfolio project was aimed at capturing hope’s presence. Developing this portfolio proved to be a challenge, but I feel like each one of these images portrays hope in one way or another.
Oddly enough, I found that hope was most often times conveyed to me through light. Because of this, black and white images were the most compelling in conveying hope’s presence because of the distinct contrast between the light and dark. Most of the images are largely dark, but because of a glimmer of light, the dark lifeless situations are made into hopeful masterpieces. Although I took all these photographs in color with a variety of digital cameras, I converted them to black and white through Photoshop to create the end result.
My goal through this portfolio is that through these images you might also be re-awakened to the presence of hope in daily life and may seek it out from its hiding place. No matter how bleak and lifeless a situation may appear, there is always a glimmer of hope that brings light to darkness and offers the promise of something better to come. Hope is what keeps me going day after day and I would wish the same for you as well.
(Note: I know that this project would have turned out very differently if I had been in a city setting such as San Francisco. I wanted to incorporate city scenes and people such as homeless people, children, and elderly, but because of my location in a smaller town, I was unable to capture these scenes. Therefore, I would love to continue this portfolio in San Francisco at a later date.)
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