Artist’s Statement for Michael D. Sherer
As you may note, much of my photography involves everyday items that are basking in a unique form of light. More than anything, I am a light junkie. If the light is right, I will do whatever I can to capture the moment.
When I share my images with others, I am often asked that age old question that nearly every photographer hears, “Did you manipulate the image?” My answer is always the same. While I will make minor adjustments to an image including the subtle tweaking of tones, cropping distracting elements while avoiding as much as possible removing items such as wires from an image, etc., I will not push an image beyond what I believe is an accurate and honest rendering of what is in the frame. My photographs are emotionally accurate. They are honest images of what I saw and felt at the time I captured image.
I like to present my photographs as fine art posters in the standard poster sizes (from 11 x 14 to 18 x 24), in a simple metal frame and nothing else. I hate placing glass over any image. I have to be able to look directly into my prints without have to cope with reflections bouncing off of a sheet of glass or a glossy print surface. I have found that my ink-jet printer loaded with pigment inks just thrives with printing on Hahnemuhle’s Bamboo paper. This archival quality fine art paper and pigment inks produce images that really do have a third dimension, a physical depth that I have never seen before in anything that I have used. This warm tone matte surface paper, made from bamboo fibers, is my all-time favorite paper. It is nothing short of spectacular for the images that I love to make.
When I make an image that makes me happy, I need to share it with others. As each individual takes a moment or more to study my work, I am hoping to hear those wonderful words, “absolutely beautiful.” Then, and only then, will I know that I have indeed been successful. My quest is never complete unless and until others can see the beauty in the subject that I saw and can hear the stories that I heard when I was shooting and processing the image.
