In the exhibition I was in, I had six black and white images of street scenes from around the UK. A Quaker friend of mine had commented on that she found my photography really celebrating the testimony of simplicity. I hadn’t consciously intended my photography to follow the testimony of simplicity, and it wasn’t until my friend had pointed it out that I had noticed it.
Simplicity can be seen in many ways. For me, it’s not just about possession, but also about an outlook on life. It’s about seeing the world around me in an honest way, and letting the world unfold in front of me and the lens of my camera. My photography often is in the moment, waiting for the right moment to click the button and very few of my photos are posed.
That’s not to say that I don’t have an editor’s eye when I take photos. There are things I include and things I exclude from the frame of my camera. But my photography isn’t particularly verbose, photographically speaking. That’s not to say that they are simplistic. There can be layers and complexity in the simplicity, even if you have to look for them. Simplicity can be profound, for those who are open to seeing it.
Fundamentally, my photography is about looking, listening and being in tune with the environment around me. It can mean that as a photographer, you look beyond the facades that are presented in front of you, and not adding to them.