Photographer's Statement:

About Pedestrian Photographs

If life is a play, then New York City is a very busy stage. I like to think of myself as a theatrical photographer. Dramas are constantly being played out--often unwittingly--all the time. Usually nobody notices, sometimes someone does, and rarely someone manages to capture a split second of the theatrics on film. My teacher, Garry Winogrand, did it best in his life-long quest to explore what things looked like photographed.

This collection of images is called "Pedestrian Photographs" because they are photographs of pedestrians. New York is a pedestrian-friendly city, and is therefore rich in opportunities for momentary interactions, visual coincidences and ironic moments that make every visit into the city an adventure in seeing. I hope these images convey this adventure.

About Photography

Photography is the act of faithfully reproducing a moment in time and space, filtered through how the image is composed. It is the responsibility of the photographer create the best possible negatives and prints. Bad quality will interfere with the image. The viewer should never be made to feel aware of the process due to poor print quality, because that would interfere with the content and structure of the image.

Other than location and date, which are for identification purposes, I do not caption my photographs. A caption would alter the viewer's perception of an image. An image that requires a caption and would fail without it is not a successful image. An image should be viewed on its own terms--visually--without the distraction of words.

A photographic composition is whatever is contained within the four edges of the images. The act of composing a photograph is deciding where to put the edges. There are no rules as to what should or should not be included in this process, so long as there is an organic tension between the content and the structure of the image. The most successful images are on the verge of failure.

Anything is photographable in any way.

If You Recognize Yourself In One Of My Photographs

It's ineveitable that one day someone will see themselves in one of my photographs. If you do indeed recognize yourself in one of the images in this collection, send me a photo of yourself to prove your claim, and I will send you a free 11x14" print as a thank-you.

Your comments are welcome!

-Mason Resnick
June, 1999