Elijah Dreuitt, Photography
Artist Statement
I have only been taking photographs for the past two and a half years. My Interest was sparked after my father tagged me in a 7-day black and white photo challenge on Instagram. With the encouragement I received from my friends and family I decided to take an introductory photo course which happened to be a film photography course. In taking that class I fell in love with photography, and in addition to that I was recognized by my professor and he urged me to become a photography major because it was a hidden talent of mine.
There is something that I feel when I’m out taking my photographs almost instinctively that causes me to stop dead in my tracks when I see a composition that I find appealing. My work is driven by intuition. I discovered in my studies the definitions for the techniques that I was implementing such as shape & form, balance, line, rhythm, repetition, the rule of thirds, and proportion & size that enhance each and every image I take. My thoughts behind each composition I take are geared to not only allow the viewer to see what I saw or felt in the photo but also leave enough open-endedness so that they can make the image their own. It is not just my point of view I want to bring across, but I want it to resonate from the viewers’ perspective too. Naturally, we see life through one pair of lenses. A pair of lenses that is unique to oneself. However, the art of Photography gives us the ability to see life through everyone’s lenses! Life is all about perspective and yet we spend most if not all of our lives stuck on a perspective that is unique to oneself! My goal is to use photography in a way that always leaves room for diverse interpretation.
For example, when shooting street photography, I frame a lot of my compositions around the architecture and then people come afterwards. Since I feel like I am invading the peoples space I take the time to set up my images around the architecture and sense of spatial compositions. So as the people are walking towards me, they assume I am taking a photo of something else not them, but indeed I am waiting for them to walk into the frame. In doing so it allows me to capture them candidly. So, once they come into the frame it adds depth and continuity to the image. In a way that makes the person the icing on the cake. Among my other bodies of work are “SEPTA Trains, Still-In-Motion,” “Trolley’s in Need of Grave Repair”, and “The Brink of Dawn.” They best articulate the perspective and effects of my Photography. “SEPTA Trains Still-In-Motion” embody the surroundings while taking advantage of light, motion, and even weather to convey a sense of form, function, and fascination. The techniques highlighted in this body of work are, shape & from, rule of thirds, rhythm, and repetition. “Trolley’s in Need of Grave Repair” is a combination of my street photography and my SEPTA shots. The work is not all trains or people even though the people shots are more staged they seem candid shots. Even though the trains are stationary they give a sense of mobility. The techniques highlighted in this body of work are, proportion & size, rule of thirds, rhythm and line. “The Brink of Dawn” is my first series which intuitively embodies all the above techniques that can be found in my other bodies of work. Somehow, I managed to use the light and surroundings to frame the image so that all, not just some, techniques were represented.
