About

Sights Unseen takes mundane sights in the visible world and coaxes them into revealing hidden aspects or odd relations. Unexpected framing and decisive editing sometimes force meanings that are not obvious but can be made manifest with a little creative license.

The Images

The photographs collected here were shot in the course of half a lifetime, a few even dating to the time of slide film (which I preferred to color negative because film development immediately gave you a positive with wysiwyg colors). Understandably, most are digital, taken with a variety of cameras in a variety of situations. They are not the product of coherent projects but, rather, after-the-fact distribution into categories that (mostly) make sense.

My favorite focal lengths are in the normal range. I love the natural look of 50mm on full frame (or equivalent for smaller sensors), with 40mm being a close second. As the angle of view gets wider, like 35 or 28, I get less confident and more nervous. I find 24mm a little intimidating already. Longer lenses isolate too much for my taste, although I always carry a small 90mm in my bag. I am not obsessed with large aperture or with blurring the backgrounds into oblivion, and I happily trade shallow depth of field for portability. f/2.8 is more than enough for me, especially on a 50.

Few of my photos have people in them. I tend to be shy about it. Crowds are ok, or the odd body in a larger context, but strangers as main subjects are strange to me.

I do like strange perspectives, dramatic editing, sometimes superposition of multiple shots to create implausible images.

The Titles

The play between title and image is important to me. There are different philosophies here. Some believe images should work by themselves, others think titles can important elements that guide interpretation. I use titles for illustration, context, contrast, or twist. At times it feels like I am trying to cheat making a dull image interesting by pairing it with a clever title. I am not the best judge but I am willing to take the risk of paving my own read to hell (or ridicule) with good intentions.

At any rate, to see titles in the galleries, hover over the image and the they will appear. Make up your own mind whether the title adds something or nothing at all.

The Words

Every so often I will feature an image in the Blog that speaks to me with peculiar intensity. I will try to pair it with a short narrative or reflection, once again facing the risk of ridicule, hoping it does not come across ponderous, or pompous, or inane.

The Prints

Each image can be order as a print from a high quality printing service. They are available in a variety of sizes, depending on resolution and aspect. Available options are just the photo, photo with white border, or framed.

Please note that prints ship from the United States and may incur import duties in some countries.