John Trotter — Brief Statement — February 2007

Three books seem to have been constantly open on our coffee table during my childhood. They were Life's Picture History of World War Two, Art Treasures of the Louvre, and The Family of Man. Somehow these first sources stirred in me an awareness of meanings beyond words. I am still in pursuit of these meanings, using the camera and the digital darkroom to find the way.

In the beginning I worked exclusively in black and white. I was inspired especially by the photographs of Cartier-Bresson, Gene Smith, Ansel Adams, and Paul Strand. In those days the domains of black and white and color photography were physically and chemically separate and distinct. With digital photography these material separations no longer exist, although in most people's minds there are still esthetic distinctions. Rather than dwell on these distinctions, I have chosen to explore the spectra of both tones and colors in my photographs. I would like to think that the meanings in the photographs may appear without ever raising the question whether it is a color or black and white image.

The portfolios displayed here have been arranged according to my sense of which pictures work together as a group, not necessarily according to content or date. The specific images in each portfolio are subject to change from time to time.