Photography is a practice of the moment, a practice of now. With camera in hand, time disappears for me and I constantly search what is around me. To be present, to immerse myself in the moment, that is photography. I don’t judge. I look. I see. I capture with clarity.
From that practice comes some amazing photos, fractions of seconds of the now captured for others to share, tiny little anchors to what was, instantly lost to the past, static examples of the life’s dynamic flow. What a wonderful gift to be present, not lost in the past or the future. Present. Dynamic. Alive. In the moment. That is photography for me.
My love affair with photography began one day when I was eight. Though my early photographs were not very good, I found something mystical about the process. It enamors me to this day.
I discover in photography the mystical and sublime in the everyday and ordinary. Great photographs are never about the equipment. Great photographs come from being consciously aware of the present, seizing the moment, setting aside perception in order to see what is, to see clearly.
I hope you enjoy your time here and you find, somewhere in my work, a bit of the mystery I find every time I am behind the camera.
john ater – october 2011