By far, the most powerful characteristic of photography for me is its unbreakable bond with reality. "Painting can feign reality without seeing it," explains Roland Barthes, but "in Photography I can never deny that the thing has been there." I take photographs to make my fantasies come true. The things I love; the elements of my fantasy world. When I take pictures they become my reality and the photographs become important mementos. They become proof that for a few hours at a time I got together with my friends and made my fantasies come true.
I want the viewer to see the fantasy. I want their imaginations to run wild. Sometimes the characters in my photos are shown whilst fantasizing, to remind the viewer that there are fantasy worlds within fantasy worlds. The lines between the real and the imagined need not be so sharply drawn. My subjects are often alone, concentrating, allowing their minds to shape their own universes. They are explorers, and whether they are looking at their own bodies or a magical forest, they allow their curiosity to guide them.
Another source must be credited for the constant nurturing and cultivation of my imagination - Hollywood movies. The strongest impressions were probably left at earlier ages, but even today movies are one of the strongest external activators of my fantasy world. So the look and feel of my work borrows substantially from film.
My camera is a jar in which I am trying to catch fireflies, wanting to always be able to enjoy the light. It is my firm belief that true happiness lies in the realization that reality and the imagination can coexist, and in the pursuit of a seamless blend of the two.
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