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bailey
James Bailey
Fish Ladder, Bradford Island, OR, 2015
pigment print
image 16 x 11

I tend to photograph human-built spaces. Particularly ones in which function defines form and there is little or no consideration for aesthetic appeal.

Spaces created with little or no regard to visual aesthetics generate their own aesthetics. Photography can make accidental visual aesthetics intentional ones and present them to a viewer. Regardless of how austere a built space may be, it remains subject to creative interpretation.

I want my photographs to lure the viewer with bold lighting or strong composition. I hope the viewer lingers, however, to carefully contemplate the photograph. Photography has a magical connection between the literal object in front of the camera and the print that hangs on the wall. These two “layers” can interact and blend the objective with the interpreted. The objective is a window on a space and the interpretive breaks down the objective into non-objective shape, texture, light and shadow. My work derives its meaning from the blending of these elements.

James Bailey