Andrew Moxom | Photography

Layered Light

I find it intriguing how the human brain rationalizes the things that we see. Our eyes typically focus on one thing of interest, while everything else in our peripheral vision remains blurred and of lesser interest. Yet our other senses help us to qualify and process what we’ve seen by providing a context.

However, it’s more than that. How do we ‘see’ a field of wheat for example? Our eyes will move around the busy scene until something grabs us. We are unable to focus on the entire field. We might also feel a breeze, and we see the wheat moving in the breeze, and we hear the rustling it makes.  All of the complimentary sensory influences or ‘layers’ as I call them build up to help tell the whole story and create something tangible.

Using a medium format film camera modified to use a non-standard lens that has some image all off, or a lack of sharpness at the edges, I have tried to convey commonplace views into a series of images that I have believe portray how our eyes see the world.

I often use low viewpoints, and selective focus to isolate key areas of the image and exploit the  imperfections of the lens for pictorial effect. This lens signature often exhibits itself as a softness in the out of focus areas, and a look that modern glass does not capture as well, or at all because these aberrations have been engineered out. The image is also less contrasty, in a way that allows the viewer to see the subtlety and interplay in the tonal layers that make up a scene. Rather than the usual biting sharpness of modern glass.

Many of the images were shot near my home in Minnesota, while others were throughout the midwestern and western states while traveling. I am drawn to areas that many people would overlook such as roadside verges, fields, and abandoned dwellings that I’ve grown familiar with over the course of time.

All traditional wet darkroom prints are hand crafted and split toned in sepia/selenium to produce a slightly warmed image color and processed for archival longevity. This series of prints is available as 7″x7″ image area onto 8×10 paper, signed and corner mounted.  They are then placed into bevel cut 16″ x 20″ museum quality Alpharag boards. Each print is available for $375 plus shipping and handling. Additional sizes are available upon request. For further information on this series, and any custom print size requirements, please contact me at:-  amoxom@comcast.net