As far back as I can remember I’ve found it natural to observe the world in a detached, objective manner. I think this is what led me to pursue a career in science. It is also responsible for my fascination with photography, which goes back more than 25 years, when I started doing my own film processing and printing.
For many years I had abandoned photography, in part due to a gradual deterioration in my vision from a congenital disorder. Eventually, certain factors conspired to bring me back to it. First, two corneal transplants gave me near normal visual acuity. Second, I decided to give up my career as a research scientist. A third factor was the advent of digital photography and the power and creative potential it brought to the medium. Now I devote myself full-time to photography.
I care little about the manifest subject matter of my photos; I’m attracted to anything with dramatic light and shadow, unusual textures, colors, forms and patterns. Yet there seem to be several elements common to much of my work. I find myself experimenting much as I did when I was a scientist, systematically varying camera, lighting, and software parameters and observing the effects. I like to work in series, categorizing the variety found in the natural world. I enjoy taking images to the brink of abstraction. I don’t like to impose a particular style on my work; I try to let each image speak for itself and tell me how it “wants” to look.
Website: www.larrychait.com