Photographer's Statement
Photographers more or less are often defined by their equipment and their process. Someone once said, "I have a camera, so therefore I am a Photographer". This often puts us in the "Photographers" mindset, and venturing outside of that mindset often brings all sorts of criticism from other "Photographers".
To reach the next level, you need to stop thinking like a "Photographer" and start thinking with your creative juices. This will allow you to express your creative vision without conforming to the traditional "photographers" mindset. My goal is to create beautiful Photographs. A beautiful Photograph is an
image that is both visually and emotionally inspiring. A photograph that lacks emotion, in my opinion, is cold and uninviting; this, I feel, prevents the viewer from genuinely enjoying the photograph.
A beautiful photograph is primarily the product of the photographer, and not the photographic equipment used. For this reason, I believe a photograph displayed as it was captured initially lacks emotion and is therefore completely unsatisfying. Images of such represent the output of my Nikon rather than the expression of my imagination, creativity, and emotions.
To satisfy my creativity, I work on the photographs after I have captured the images, that is, when I can infuse the photograph with the emotional content I experienced at the location. Here, I do everything to the image I feel is necessary to recreate the dramatic experience as seen through the eyes of my lens.
M. Damien Suriel