STATEMENT BY LILLIS WERDER
My images have a mission: to capture both the rare and the everyday scenes that envelop me and to present them in a captivating way. It may be an image of a beckoning remote landscape in a foreign land, an ancient castle in the Irish countryside, a grieving sculpture in an enchanting Czech cemetery, jazzy street performers in Louisiana's French Quarter or the inner city roughness of street scenes of Washington, DC. For any subject, I want the images I create with my camera to generate unexpected thoughts and emotions in the viewer. It is my hope that my images impart candid awareness of details and reality that may otherwise go unnoticed in our rapid-fire world. What matters to me the most, though, is that I produce art that people want to put on their walls.
I photograph scenes that emphasize the sense of space and beauty. I photograph people in their environments because I am curious to understand what lays behind their eyes and to understand their cultures and backgrounds. I photograph animals to reveal their inner spirit. I photograph nature and architecture to convey the purity that I see in both natural and manmade forms. Our world today is so information-rich but seems so time-poor in culture. Photography is my way of suspending time and living in the moment. In showing a detail or a fleeting sensation that changes by the minute based on something as simple as the contrasting light of day, I can suspend time, arouse a mood, and allow the viewer to reconnect with simply being in a particular moment. My images can preserve that moment in perpetuity. But more than this, photography allows me to search for universal truths and undeniable constants in our surroundings, and to highlight these by choosing what to leave in and what to leave out of the frame. Creating art is a way for me to experience life more fully and with more intensity. Photography makes me feel connected and vital, inviting me to investigate places, and to explore the potential for discovery around every corner. I often discover photographs as much as I create them. I would encourage anyone to be an adventurer, an explorer. It is a liberating thing to explore unfamiliar worlds. The new world you enter will enrich you with new experiences, and will in turn, be altered itself because you are in it. Just imagine the possibilities.
I use a variety of styles to present my images. I enjoy the bold use of color, the starkness of black and white, the many special effects available, or the vintage look of an antiqued sepia print. I utilize the large array of options available in the digital darkroom, tailored to enhance each individual image. Through my photography and its variable styles, whether the subject matter is of ethereal beauty or a jolting reality, I am able to open a universe of new stories and express my interpretation of the world around me.