“If I didn’t care about my own work,
I might as well be an accountant—it’d be
an easier way to go for sure. Ever since I’ve
started photography, I’ve been doing work
for myself. If there was another way to do it,
I would. If I could be happy just taking pictures
for other people and not taking pictures
for myself, I’d do it. But I’ve always felt
compelled to make photographs for myself.
Photography is such a gift in the way that
through the simple act of looking at something
and giving it your full attention you
can transform a simple, mundane thing and
make it beautiful and thought-provoking.”
" After graduation,
he wanted to be a documentary photographer,
and left for the retirement town of Sun
City, AZ, to document the community that
was developed in the 50s. In the process, he
became burned out with photography. “I
sold all my equipment, moved out to California
and stopped shooting for five or six
years,” Broening says. “I honestly thought I
was done shooting. But during the hiatus I
continued to see photographs all the time.
Mostly I was struck by how light fell on
something and then I would think about
where in the scene the photograph was. I
think I am hard-wired that way. Strange as
it may sound, you don’t need a camera to
be a photographer.”
2 comments:
"...you don't need a camera to be a photographer."
So true, and well put.
chirp.
These are photographs of yours that I love, Thomas. I didn't know you had stopped photographing for that long a period of time. For me as an artist, everything I see has the potential to be a part of my next project. I see almost everything from that perspective without trying, just out of the habit formed from making art most days for a long time now...
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