Alfred Eisenstadt, the great photojournalist, once said a photographer needs “...a short circuit between his brain and his fingertips...” Sounds suspiciously like Cartier-Bresson’s “decisive moment,”a term I've always liked, doesn’t it? I believe that a photographer’s moment can often begin far ahead of the shot itself. Not in the final instant itself but in the idea that pushes him or her rushing to it. Many of these images are recorded because of familiarity with equipment and being able to photograph without thinking. On top of it all, I'm right brained, left eye is dominant so I have no choice.

They were all transparencies, of course, which recently were “reborn” digitally and indeed, they came to have a new life on the computer screen. But my memory of these images is far enough away that they have a different emotion today––not graphic necessarily, but of a freedom of access, an openness in the people I met on those streets.

Until recently many of these images I have viewed only through a loupe. They were chosen as favorites because of the graphic quality, memory of whom I was with, a first trip out of the country etc. Until purchasing scanners and other digital equipment some could not come to life. For instance in the travel section (US) is a photo taken at the Acoma Indian Reservation. At the base of the ladder were some newspapers that could be removed in Photoshop but if left in place would ruin the image for me in a photographic print. The photos presented here have had minor work done in Photoshop such as spotting, dodging and burning as well as color correction––the same thing I would do in making high quality black and white or color prints.

Thank you for visiting my website. It is always a work in progress–– choosing images, resizing them and adding new photos periodically. Feel free to leave your comments, ideas and inspirations.

Bill Apton Sept 2001

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