My Journey
as a Photography Artist:
A Hawaiian Awakening
My Journey as a Photography Artist:
A Hawaiian Awakening
The images taken from Mauna Kea were my first photographs, marking the beginning of my journey as a photography artist. Experimenting with light, form, movement, and time, I turned my camera into a brush. I was uncovering a new way to express myself, one that had been hiding within me. I had tried painting, mixed media, and other photographic techniques, but none captivated my feelings and desires as profoundly as these serendipitous shots.
In today’s world, our minds are often visually jammed with an infinite number of images that merely replicate reality. Our hearts and brains don’t usually stop to engage and connect with what we are seeing. I believe abstract images can halt this passive consumption and make us question what we are seeing. My intention with all my photographic work is to make the viewer stop, reconnect their eyes, brain, and heart, feel what they are seeing, and let their imagination take over.
I want viewers to look at nature and the built environment with a new perspective, much like trying to decipher a cubist painting, finalizing the details of an abstract artwork, or completing a sketch with their own vision. In contrast to realistic pictures, my photographic art, inspired by those serendipitous photographs atop Mauna Kea, invites us to reconnect uniquely with our surroundings.
It was during a drive down from Mauna Kea, with my hands out the window, battling the wind and cold while trying to capture the breathtaking scenery. The movement of the car and camera, my freezing fingers trying to manipulate the settings and zoom, the rush to capture a setting sun, and my excitement for what I was seeing resulted in images that still evoke deep emotions in me today. This accidental discovery was a moment of self-revelation. What I saw through the camera’s viewfinder was so captivating and unexpected that it motivated me to explore using those unexpected conditions as a photographic technique, experimenting with other subjects to see what I could create.
My short stay in Hawaii transformed me in ways I could never have anticipated. I often say there’s the Jaime before Hawaii and the Jaime after Hawaii. It was here, on these magical islands, that nature revealed a new way for me to express myself. The geological formations and the vast presence of nature were both overpowering and inspiring. I became a witness to this natural grandeur and felt an overwhelming need to convey that experience through art. The beautiful, vast, and irresistible landscape of the islands stirred something deep within me, compelling me to capture its essence and transformative power on the human soul. Painting isn’t my talent, so I grabbed the camera that I had abandoned for years to try to capture the full extent of this feeling. As I started to play with my camera, serendipity found me.
Our Story
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This concept reminds me of the story from "The Little Prince" where the drawing of the boa constrictor swallowing an elephant is mistaken for a hat. In one of my photographs, a mountain in Mauna Kea looks strikingly similar to that image of the boa. Just like the drawing that challenges the observer's perception, my work encourages viewers to look beyond the obvious and engage with their imagination, discovering new layers of meaning in what they see.
This serendipitous discovery in Hawaii has become the foundation of my art. It’s an invitation to viewers to pause, reflect, and reconnect with the power and beauty of both nature and the built environment, transforming their perception and deepening their emotional engagement.
Discover the magic and emotion captured in my art.
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and let your imagination soar!
“One very important aspect of art is that it makes people aware of what they know and what they don’t know that they know.” This quote suggests that art has the power to bring to the surface both our conscious and subconscious knowledge. In other words, art can reveal things we are aware of as well as things we aren't consciously aware that we know. About my photography, you might think my photographs are ‘blurry,’ but within those blurred images, you 'see' what you know, and are triggered by what you ’think’ you know: could it be the Taj Mahal or a leaf motif, a familiar shape, a bridge, or a mountain? Your mind intuitively processes it, creating a connection between what you see and what you know. The lack of realistic definition gives you room to build your own reality, completing the image with your consciousness and giving it new significance.