<:: Krista Wortendyke Photography ::>

The photographers I've studied throughout my education have all used the camera as a a means to capture the realities and subtleties of the world as they experience it. I always loved photography for its ability to stop time, but I felt it was a stifling medium because of the expectations of what makes a "good photograph." I knew I wanted to use the camera, but I didn't want to capture single moments.

I began to study videography, but that was too far on the opposite side of the spectrum. I wanted to create something that the viewer could look at without having to watch. I wanted something that spanned across time, but did not include sound or characterizations. One of the artists I found that had experimented with these ideas was Marcel DuChamp, in his controversial Nude Descending A Staircase. DuChamp took a series of movements and painted them all on one canvas creating what the critics called "an explosion in a shingle factory." DuChamp's concept was exactly what I wanted to create using the camera.

With some experimentation and a few lucky accidents, I discovered a way to create the images I was looking for. I began to photograph 100-speed film in low light situations. My exposures were anywhere from 2 to 30 seconds. Instead of trying to steady the camera and get a clear image of my subjects, I move the camera to create my own patterns from what already exists. The results were far more interesting then I could have hoped for, but fairly uncontrollable. Although I have honed my control over what will result from my exposures, I will never be able to fully dictate them. I found I could transform something as mundane as a neon sign into something completely unfamiliar to the viewer. What appears on the negative will never be seen by the human eye alone. It is experienced by the camera and recorded for us to see.

- Krista Wortendyke