The Daily Photograph presents works by photographer Jim McKinniss.
What photographers are your greatest influences?
McKinniss : Diane Arbus, Lee Friedlander, and Alfred Stieglitz and the Photo-Secessionists.
What makes a photograph good?
McKinniss : For me technical perfection is much less important than the artistic interpretation the photographer brings to the photo. A good photograph will cause the observer to pause and study it and possibly create a story. It leaves questions in the viewer’s mind.
Many of your photographs contain an element of mystery. Can you explain that?
McKinniss : Many of my photographs are dark in tone. I think this is the result of growing up in the 50’s and 60’s watching noir movies and listening to mystery radio shows. I liked the scenes of strong light and shadow contrasts in the rooms and streets, the heavy shadows with characters walking away and disappearing into those shadows.
How do you know when you’re happy with one of your photographs?
McKinniss : I may revise them a bit after a few days or weeks or I may make a completely different version. For me it is not unusual to test both monochrome and color versions of the same photo but I almost always start with a monochrome version.
What photo-projects are you working on now?
McKinniss : Three things come to mind. I’m continuing my 13-year exploration of Venice, Italy. I have been working on a project of night and very early morning photography. I just started photographing local nature areas using a Petzval lens which was designed in 1840.
Jim McKinniss is a photo-artist based in Santa Barbara, California. He studied photography with John Humble at Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles and was a member of the Los Angeles Art Association. His photographs have been shown in a Sony Digital International Exhibition and included in several the Black and White Spider Awards. His work has also appeared in the book Photos that Inspire and in Black and White Magazine. They have been shown in the San Diego Museum of Art, the Griffin Museum in Winchester, MA and the Los Angeles Art Association. His work is collected domestically and internationally.
Your Daily Photograph
