Extracts from Around the House

One of the things I find most photographically gratifying is to photograph household items, but not in there contexts. Separate them from the elements around them; segregate them and allow them to stand on their own merits. Extract from them a quality that is generally camouflaged by their every-day-ness.

Most refer to this taking things out of their context as abstracts, but photography icon Ansel Adams made the following statement, which I really identified with: "I prefer the term extract over abstract, since I cannot change the optical realities but only manage them."

Extract photography is something that I had long seen others do well, but that I struggled with. I had a difficult time initially conceptualizing and composing such photographs, but have since come to believe extract photography is one of the things at which I excel.