It was very challenging as well as interesting for me to make a retrospective book and exhibition of my work. Some of these photos are over 20 years old and I’ve seen them published many times and in many forms. I know how people react to them and I know how I want them to appear. So I needed parameters and a certain criteria to assist me in making a final selection of only 32 images to present my opinion of “life” over the last 20+ years. So here’s what I did. I have only included photographs that if seen independently from the book as well as one another would not only stand on their own, but I would be completely content and pleased to have them represent me and my vision. Every one of the photographs in this collection pretty much says everything I have to say about the world and my understanding and reaction to it.
I feel my job, as a photographer is to organize the chaos. I try to translate what I see and think into a refined, organized and simple image. Now, by simple I don’t mean very few elements. I mean that I only want elements in the photograph that are completely necessary. I don’t really do this in a conscious way, but I know what I want the photos to look like and it keeps happening. I guess something I’m doing must be deliberate. Anyway, composition is very important to me and when I edit I often remove photos that might be interesting but don’t fit into what I want my pictures to look like.
David Carol
David Carol is a photographer and writer specializing in photography based in New York, USA.
