‘Still’ was an experimental series of photographs that began quite unintentionally. Using a point and shoot camera as I was not intending to create art, I was experimenting with exposure and allowing ‘too much light.’
These digital photographs were taken of my daughter as she played at the beach, and captured, experimenting with light exposure. They were altered to eradicate or strengthen background and foreground.
An extremely personal piece, these pictures mark a recurring dream of my daughter disappearing by water, as my father who loved the sea, died when I was close to the age she is in these pictures. My anxiety about family and loss mirror the subtle disturbance felt viewing the photographs, whose subject cannot ever be clearly seen. When in the foreground her face is in shadow, distorted by light or washed out, or she turns away from the viewer, moving into the distance.
The pictures may capture a still moment but the subject is never still in the sense that she cannot be seen clearly enough to behold her image to confirm her identity.
She is always just within your grasp but not completely.