Photography for me is…a way to see the world from so many different perspectives. It is also a way for me to learn more about who I am, my preferences, my views on the world around me…what attracts me, what turns me off. I love the freedom that the camera gives me and I get a great sense of excitement from the connections I make when I am integrating with all that surrounds me.
Photography has been a life giving adventure for me since I was a child. It has been my inspiration, one of my vehicles for self-expression, my peace, my refuge, my passion, my living and my way. As long as I’ve been involved in photography, I have consistently found within it new challenges, more to learn, a sense of peace and a reason to go out and further explore my world and interact with the people in it. A reason to keep challenging myself.
My passion has always been people and the stories they tell, and I have used photography as a way to know more about you and about myself. There have been times when I’ve stopped photographing completely. And though I took no photographs during those times, this also taught me more about who I am and I continued to look at the world through the eyes of a photographer. With the camera I am challenged to see differently and when I am willing to look for it, I see so very many things from which I can learn, become more and move forward. Some of the things I see, I absolutely love, while others are more difficult for me to deal with. Either way, when I’m willing to stop and look, I inevitably learn something more.
I need my camera and I love the stories it reveals for me. At times what I see in my photography scares me, other times it thrills me, again it moves me and ultimately, when I am ready to see it, it changes me. I have always found it magical to grab an instant in time and then see it in an entire world of possibilities.
Life, for me, is like a running movie and we anticipate what’s coming next. But I have found that when I capture but a moment of it and then look back at what I captured, suddenly the story can be interpreted in so many different ways. I can rewrite the script completely…and I find that really fun and stimulating!!
It excites me to see, through the photographs I take, how many different variations of any given movie I can come up with. I have always loved telling stories and I get excited when others tell their stories, whether it be directly or through the photographs I take. My camera is like my GPS and has become for me a way to navigate the world and to reach into my soul, and I love it!
If you are interested in reading more about my views and thoughts on life, I invite you to read and/or subscribe to my personal online magazine which I call Hogan Visions.
Thank you!
Kharim