Terrence Falk

I’m always looking for what’s on the edge, for that place or that thing that resides in between spaces. What draws me there can be is so subtle and tenuous that it’s difficult to verbalize what I look for when photographing. It comes down to experiencing the place on its purest level and all that it offers- the light, the sounds, the smells. How does all of this come together? What does that feel like? At times it feels like the photographs find me.

I utilize my knowledge of the craft in order to control the medium. I bend it to my vision. I watch and listen to what is before me. But in the end, both light and subject are often elusive. As I photograph, the light changes so fast, most of my energy is spent keeping just a bit ahead of it. The subject opens itself to me, but not for long.  Even after fifty years, being a photographer seems such a tenuous and fleeting undertaking. The irony is, I don’t feel this is an obstacle at all, but simply part of the process that adds to the experience of the moment and pushes me as an artist.

What makes photography the perfect medium for my work as an artist is its dual nature: on one hand there is the resolution and supposed reality you can experience from it, yet at the same time, images can be produced that are quite surreal and dreamlike. No other medium has this immediate dichotomy. Because of the size and weight of a large format camera, I am both allowed and forced to experience the subject on a more contemplative and introspective level.

I strongly believe that when I see something that catches my eye, it’s not simply noticing a possible new subject. There’s much more going on, something below the surface. I feel that somehow I am being made aware of a certain energy. At these moments, the world is opening itself up to me, saying, “Yes, over here, be a part of this.” It’s as if I am tapping into an energy or life emanating from the subject.

I’m fascinated with experiencing a thing or a place that is not completely known or understood.

-Terence Falk