GARY ANTHES
(H)ouse
J’accuse
Strings Attached
Phases Two and Three
Not Hurt Yet
PHOTOGRAPHER’S STATEMENT
There are times when the process of photography seems invested in magic, and what it is that makes that photograph truly work in the end is a mystery. – John Szarkowski, former director of photography, Museum of Modern Art, N.Y.
If the late curator, writer, and critic couldn't always say what makes a good photograph, then I'm sure I can't either. I will just say that the qualities of simplicity, mystery, and transience hold special allure for me. I look for them, and I find them, everywhere. And composition is (nearly) everything. Szarkowski also said, “The simplicity of photographs lies in the fact that it is very easy to make a picture. The staggering complexity of it lies in the fact that a thousand other pictures of the same subject would have been equally easy.”
My post-processing photo edits are intended to enhance the qualities of simplicity, mystery, or transience, and to show why I chose to make that particular picture out of thousands of other possibilities.
Anthes's photographs have appeared in numerous group and solo shows, have been selected by juries for various special exhibitions in the Washington, D.C. area, and have been featured in a number of magazines and newspapers. Books include The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, Pictures at an Exhibition: Points of View, and Rock Dimensions.