The Camera as a Divining Rod

            I found this description on a site, Worksongs (now 404) by Andrew Emond.

I had just been talking to my nephew yesterday about that feeling of talking photographs without looking at every detail not relevant to the photograph. While I’m photographing, my mind goes into a different place. I’m seeing everything as light, shadow, angles, clear versus blurred, and so on. I don’t catch the words on a gravestone but I see that they will (or won’t) turn out clearly enough to read in the photograph. I walk around to find the angle that catches the mood, without taking the time to decide what the mood actually is. At least not in words.

It is a different connection to your surroundings when you look at everything a little distanced and yet more connected in other ways. I liked the analogy of the camera as a divining rod. So I have reposted Andrew’s description, as a quote. He has another site: Andrew Emond.

Worksongs Photography

Name : Andrew Emond
Location : Toronto / Montreal

Intent : Worksongs is basically the end result of me trying to gain a better, more direct connection with my immediate surroundings. I look at the camera as a sort of divining rod. It helps lead me to things I wouldn’t normally consider examining or give much thought to, like industrial processes or the way communities are evolving. I’m particularly interested in how elements of the old world are fitting in with the modern world, or in some cases aren’t fitting in at all — essentially where our society has come from and the directions we might be headed.