During covid when the darkness of pandemic and social divisiveness began to overshadow joy I went to my photograph folders to be reminded of better times. I found many images that were, at first glance, completely black, nothing recognizable. A few had specks of light suggesting there might be something there. The process was straightforward. I went year by year through twenty years of family, friends, and travel photographs.
As I found black tiles, I set them aside; over 300 of them. On a gloomy day in the fall of 2021, I started exploring those dark rectangles. Using a series of lighting adjustments, I inspected each one –shadows, midtones, highlights --to uncover any lingering image. No contrast or color filters were used. The purity of the reveal was solely in bringing in more light.
Self-imposed criteria for this game of discovery were 1) the black rectangle was indecipherable. 2) The revealed image was an object, person or place I love and interesting as a photograph.
The process mirrored that of turning inward to illuminate love. It encouraged me to look past what seemed an emptiness and respect what resides within when boosted with light. Lurking in the shadows was a series of joyful discoveries.
