Stopping Time

“Both Galileo and Newton and most people up until the 20th century

thought that time was the same for everyone everywhere. This is the basis

for timelines, where time is a parameter. Our modern conception of time is based on Einstein's theory of relativity, in which rates of time run differently depending on relative motion, and space and time are merged into spacetime, where we live on a world line rather than a timeline.” — Wikipedia

Vernacular Photography is as much about ‘capturing’ a fleeting moment as it is about stopping that moment from fleeting, stopping time; it's a duality that resides within each frame of every photograph ever taken. This juxtaposition creates an inner tension, inner forces that cannot be pulled apar.

Every photograph is a time-capsule; the instant any photograph is taken, it is evidence, ‘proof’ of existence, of time’s inexorable march, and our desire to stop and ‘fix’ it. While all material is temporal and changes and moves through time, Photography is the art that comes closest to stillness.

On a micro scale, each individual photo is rooted in a particular place, time, and experience.

On a macro scale, from a bird’s eye perspective, all snapshots ever created, and all the ones yet to be taken, tell a story of the human condition, unburdened by knowledge, reason, or critique

Eschewing our need to order, they embrace the beautiful chaos that resides at the heart of every human occasion. When the party is over and the music stops playing, snapshots are all we have left.