Artist’s Statement

I have always photographed those places and people who stimulate the child’s “Wow” factor in my mind’s eye, or at least engage my “Gee, that’s interesting” response. My intention as an artist has always been to pass along as much of that simple pleasure of seeing as I can.

By nature, I am a fairly straightforward, concrete thinker – not given to metaphysical or convoluted (tortured?) artspeak when examining why I do what I do as an artist and photographer. I am also, by nature, given to taking a childlike pleasure in the world around me. Thus it is always my inclination to play with images, just for the fun of it, to move them away

from the strictly “realistic” to varying levels of abstraction.

As a press photographer, teacher and budding artist, I enjoyed being fully immersed (sometimes literally) in the magic of the “wet” darkroom. However, the advent of the digital medium as I reached retirement age opened up a whole new realm of exploration. For me, it has provided the tools to better communicate what I saw in my mind. Besides appealing to that inner child in search of instant photographic gratification (a promise made, but never fully realized, by Dr. Land), digital capture has enabled me to work a subject more freely and fully. I can also revisit earlier work through digital scans, getting a second byte of the Apple, so to speak, and discovering new images inside the old.

If my images manage to convey some of the pleasure I experienced in their creation, I consider them successful. If viewers feel better for seeing them, but fail to extract some deeper insights or questions regarding the Meaning Of It All, then they are properly tuned to my message.

Jim Gambaro

web gallery: www.jimgambarophotography.zenfolio.com

email:          [email protected]