May 6, 2013

"The light comes from the dark."

(Roger Ballen discussing one of his images at the Palm Springs Art Museum)

Last week I attended the Palm Springs Photo Festival and one of my highlights was spending time with Roger Ballen. His hauntingly beautiful, sometimes disturbing and ambiguous images are like lightning bolts to the four corners of your brain. Every one of his psychological images is thought out in every detail and element; he places importance on making strong, complex visual relations. When editing his own work, Roger chooses the photograph with the most integrated, heightened, piercing and intense essence. As a photographer he strives to bring the human interior to the exterior. Photography is a means of interpreting reality. Integrate the world around you with the world inside you. Lasting artwork has deep inner meaning. This is the criteria Ballen uses for making images.

Here is my Roger Ballen inspired still life
Emerge © Brandy Trigueros 2013

I also want to congratulate my dear incredibly talented friend Alison Turner who won the grand prize at the Palm Springs Photo Festival for her beautiful new series Reflected Identities which I am touched to be a part of.