More Than a Rock, 2nd Edition

67Aboutness

Look at the things around you, the immediate world around you. If you are alive, it will mean something to you, and if you care enough about photography, and if you know how to use it, you will want to photograph that meaningness.

—Paul Strand

I struggle to make meaningful images while traveling, especially in places that are new to me and/or where I feel like a casual visitor. In my work I strive to tell stories, and in order for me to be an effective storyteller I need to possess some intimate firsthand knowledge of my subjects—the kind of knowledge that can only come from a long-term relationship with them. Without such knowledge, the best I can hope for is to produce images that portray the external veneers of things and places, ...