Image Essay by Keith Moul
Artist's Statement
If I make claim to anything, it’s to being both a poet and a photographer of place. Going beyond the old idea that a picture is worth a thousand words, I choose words to feel the visceral and images to grasp the intellectual.
When I grind out a poem, I’m discovering primarily a welling in the gut, a fear, a trudge, a pain. When I take my photos, I see the design and develop the mathematical connections of the scene: shapes, textures, colors, numbers, images receding, the eye concentrating focus. But, regardless of the medium, my story always starts with what I can find or see in a specific place.
When I considered the concept of defining a place through photographs, I immediately thought of Iceland, with its beautiful contrasts in subject matter and its mood of incredible isolation, even loneliness. These images express my vision of Icelandic coastal waters. The captions indicate where on the circle road around the country each photo was taken.
Good photos require good light, or at least enough light to adjust with editing software. Any photo taken may produce at least one version of itself that is worth retaining; often it contains more than one version by cropping the original. I never manipulate content by eliminating part of it or changing its position within the frame.
When I alter an original photo, it’s with five priorities in mind: high resolution; high color saturation; maximum contrast; superior brightness; depth of subject, especially on landscapes or panoramic views; and roundness of more intimate subjects.
Thus, I do not seek “realism,” but vibrancy.
Keith Moul has published his poems widely for more than 40 years, his photos for only a couple of years.
Blue & Yellow Dog Press published his chapbook The Grammar of Mind in 2010. Red Ochre Press recently released Beautiful Agitation, a winner in its 2011 chapbook contest.
