Burdette Parks

parksbd@gmail.com

Burdette Parks' Artitst's Statement

Photographs can be more interpretations than records. They reflect how a scene, an event, a moment was interpreted when that image was captured. When I take pictures, something about what my eyes are seeing is compelling enough to make me pause, study and trip the shutter. But the images my brain sees are frequently different than the pictures that come out of the camera. My goal, once an image has been captured, is to process the resulting negative, be it film or digital, so it more accurately interprets or expresses the image in my mind's eye.

Should photographs tell the Truth? That could depend on how "Truth" is defined -- assuming it is definable. Does "Truth" mean absolute fidelity to the perceived reality of the original scene or image, or does it mean the Truth of what the photographer saw or felt? And what kind of Truth is that? Is it a photojournalist's Truth or an artist's Truth? Is it an observer's Truth or a participant's Truth? Is that Truth perceived with the eyes, the mind, the heart or some combination of all?

Is Truth even the issue? Isn't a photograph in its simplest terms the interpretation of a moment, a composition of light captured within a frame of time? Such an interpretation is inevitably affected by the equipment and materials used to record the moment. It is affected by the intentions of the photographer. It is affected by the timing of when the shutter is released -- a fraction of a second can dramatically change the "Truth" a picture reveals. And it is affected by how that recorded moment is transformed from a latent image to a finished print.

I have been studying and using photography as both a creative and a business tool since 1964 -- processing and printing my own work from the beginning. For the first several years, about thirty-five or so, all processing and printing was, of course, done in traditional photographic darkrooms and served to form a sound basis for understanding and applying the fundamentals of photography. My move to digital photography has benefited greatly from that early training and experience and I find the level of artistic management and control to be significantly improved in the digital environment.

The Tools
The photographic work I'm currently doing is mostly, start to finish, digital. My images are captured with a Canon Powershot G9, a Casio Ex-Z750, a Fujifilm S2 Pro or a Nikon D300 Digital SLR camera. Images are then downloaded from the digital media cards to my "digital darkroom" and adjusted or "re-imagined" in PhotoShop Lightroom and/or Photoshop CS3. The "developed" images are then printed on acid-free archival matte paper with an Epson 2200 pigment system inkjet printer and mounted on acid-free mounting board.

The Prints

Original custom prints are available in a variety of sizes and framings with prices varying by finished size and treatment. In general, they range from $35 for simply matted smaller prints to $300 or more for larger prints with special framing. Contact me through the Adirondack Artist's Guild Gallery or by e-mail for more information or if you would be interested in seeing more of my photographs. And thanks for stopping by.