Statement

   
  From the cool, neon lights of Hollywood
  at night, to Maliubu's glorious beaches,
  my images celebrate the light, color and
  life around me. I use a simple, plastic
  medium format camera called the Holga as
  my tool for experimentation, along with B&W
  and color film. It may be a simple camera,
  but it has required a daunting amount of
  practice,patience and even obsession for me 
  to achieve my results.
 
   I enjoy pushing the limits of what 
  is possible to do on a film negative. 
  I say "everything you see is on the negative".
  Camera in hand, I will click the shutter
  multiple times, or make time exposures and
  panoramas. The possiblities are unlimited.
  I do also like to make images of single 
  moments in time.
  
  I must confess that when I look through my
  viewfinder, in my mind’s eye I imagine the
  scene as a painting. I look at light,color
  and composition today in much the same way
  that they taught us in art school.
  Painterly effects seem to enhance my
  self-expression. There is much joy in the
  experimentation itself.
 
  I spend a lot of time at Leo Carillo
  State Beach, north on Pacific Coast Highway,
  beyond Malibu, almost to the Ventura County
  Line. This is my favorite beach in this
  part of the world. It is close to Los
  Angeles, but far enough away at the same
  time. I return to this same location, year
  after year, at all times of day, tide,
  weather and season. My beach is rugged,
  windswept and solitary, with occasional
  surfers, lifeguards, and seagulls passing
  through. There are tide pools, cliffs and
  caves, pelicans and starfish and dolphins…

     These images are a diary of my efforts
  to stay sane, to cope in the pressure
  cooker that is LA. They are a record of
  sacred moments spent in contemplation and
  communion with nature. I have always been
  a lover of nature. As a child, I studied
  natural history and longed to be a marine
  scientist, even while living in landlocked
  Kansas. I spent my free time in the woods
  and fields behind our house, exploring the
  creeks, collecting minnows, and running
  free. My favorite book was “Island of the
  Blue Dolphins”, about a Native American girl
  living on the Channel Islands. When I am
  at Leo Carillo Beach, I connect with the
  Channel Islands I see in the distance.
 
  Today, much of my time is spent immersed
  in the urban experience, and so I photograph
  what I see around me. LA is fast paced and
  full of vibrant visual stimulation and
  color. It is dynamic and multicultural, and
  my work aims to convey that. 
 
  Everything you see in my photographs
  is printed from the film negative, with
  minimal use of Photoshop. I mostly print full
  frame, without much digital alteration,
  maintaining the integrity of my negative.
  I welcome the limits and the possibilities
  of my camera and film, and I like the fact
  that I have an archive of negatives of all
  my images. I am continuing to push forward
  in my discovery of technique and subject
  matter and break new ground as I continue my
  creative exploration.

 





            maura@maurabrennan.com