During my thirty years of creating images I have never gotten past the uneasy feeling of approaching strangers to take their photograph; but then again, that is not my intent. Some time ago I realized that uneasy feeling is about me. It is a part of me I would just as soon suppress. But it is the only part of me that can answer the question—“Why do I want to make this image?”

Photography is such a unique medium. Whatever I am thinking and feeling is recorded in some way at the exact moment I click the shutter. When I am printing in the darkroom a similar opportunity arises; and then again, when I am deciding to display the image. I once heard it said—“The images we create (in any medium) already exist in our mind”. I believe this to be true, and understand it to mean we have the potential to explore, clarify and express in present time, that which is the foundation of our past.

When I am in a public space I rarely ask permission from someone to take his or her photograph. When I set out to make an image, it is myself that I am trying to capture on film. There are signposts (of sorts) that exist in all things, directing me inward to notice the degree of value (importance) I assign to everything.

When I aim my camera at you, I am looking for that sign, that moment that unearths and discloses the hit and miss of my connection. What I hope to capture is a moment, which does not merely copy the surface or fact of my subject; but, instead, expresses reality.

I am passionate about photography. I am excited about confronting my fears. After all, without fear there can be no imagination. I am intrigued by composition and how each thing in its rightful place allows the energy in an image to build with emotion. I bow to the magnificent struggle of it all and swell in the moment of realizing my clearest understanding and connection has been experienced.

S. Renée Jones