Our creative spirits sometimes lead us to places we never knew existed. In my case, as I wrote about a couple of years ago, mine was energized by a shadow on a wall and led to an awakening of sorts. At that time I had come to a place in my photography that felt stagnant, uninspiring. That realization led me to new paths in creativity.

A similar thing happened about a month ago when I was experimenting with different filters in Topaz, a post-processing tool. I clicked on one and what I saw moved me, very deeply. It reminded me of one of my favorite movies, What Dreams May Come, with Robin Williams. In it, Robin enters this very murky dreamlike existence, where the landscape seems like something out of a Van Gogh painting. Nothing is as it seems, scenes change rapidly, evermore fantastically.

It was something truly different and had expanded my idea of what could be done to enable ideas and thought processes to expand into unknown realms of art. That could take a scene that had been captured in a photograph and give it a bit more “life.” Expand its horizons. Even act as a grounding link.

With my new series, an example of which is on page 96 of this issue, I wanted to expand the boundaries of the still image as I had seen them in the past. Give it somewhere to go, even if it is within itself.

Into deeper meaning. A new life. A new self.

As a photographer of the nude for many years, I had finally come to a crossroads, where there was no clear winner as far as direction was concerned. I had utilized almost every pose known, all body types but still there was something missing from the equation.