Don McKenna

My work could best be defined as traditional, straightforward, personal documentary. I am photographing the subject matter objectively and analytically, but not without some degree of empathy. And not unlike the similar work of my contemporaries, I respectfully emulate and carry forward the tradition of my photographic and artistic influences. Chief among many are: Walker Evans, Eugene Atget, Paul Strand, Minor White, Robert Frank, Laura Gilpin, William Eggleston, Joel Sternfeld, Edward Hopper, Charles Sheeler. Most of my work is in color and photographed with a 4x5 view camera. I do not limit myself to that format but I enjoy the slower pace and more contemplative process when working with a view camera. I shoot film, scan it and manage the image in Adobe Photoshop and print them on a wide format inkjet printer. I seek to present compelling images that in some manner entertain, inform, challenge or touch the viewer. I take extreme care with composition and structure. Solving the visual organization problem of a photograph well is absolutely vital to quickly engage one's interest long enough to establish some sort of connection with an image. When done successfully, no matter how fragile, it is this connection that an artist depends on the viewer to build upon. This internal dialogue with an image is conditioned by information within and supporting data about an image but how much one gets from it is to a large degree the responsibility of that individual viewer. Some images are easy and accessible, a visually pleasing arrangement exercise of shapes and color with no secrets. Some are more complex and only after considerable effort is spent reading them do they reveal their secrets. For the most part I would not expect nor want an image to mean the same to any two people except in the broadest terms. It is that very individuality, influenced by social and cultural backgrounds, which shape and define one's perception of a photograph and gives it life. Once finally recognized, this whole endeavor becomes about one questioning the resulting images for meanings or associations that could not have been the intention of the original creators of these objects photographed, but have manifested themselves over time. These photographs can become more than just evidence of what was in front of the camera. Through the universal language of photography they transcend being literal representation to being about unrecorded history, personal experience, interpretation and metaphor. With few exceptions, and for very practical reasons, most of my work is created in the Midwest very close to home. These are landscapes, towns, cities and values I am familiar with and understand. These are places of sublime beauty inhabited with people of strong convictions both good and bad, and not easily swayed by trends. However, the subjects that I explore are not unique to any one geographic area. The objects I choose to photograph in that exploration are common; vernacular architecture, rural and urban spaces, signage and their relationship with the environments they exist in. These enigmatic oddities are found all around us when one stops to look and not just see. I have and still do photograph other subjects such as more traditional landscapes and people but images without people dominating the composition seem to hold more interest for me. I am interested in one feeling human presence through the absence of humans being present. I use the evidence of human occupation that is left behind to suggest that presence and the nature of it - past, present and future. I find such images more abstract and open to conjectural reflection. Such an image allows one more freedom to associate one's own personal experiences, memories and interpretations when individuals do not already occupy it. The presence of people, and all they represent can influence, limit or bias one's response to an image both emotionally and intellectually. That being said, a person in a photograph does not make it a good thing or a bad thing - just a different thing.

Undeniably I am first attracted to these places and things because of their visual appeal or narrative possibilities and not just out of nostalgia or a desire to document them before they are gone. Initially my reaction to a potential subject is more visceral and I follow my instincts to a conclusion. I am also drawn to some of these things because their original intention has long since been forgotten and their initial value and the lives they touched now appears meaningless. But through contemplation and imagination new meanings may reveal themselves. It is this act of observation, looking with an open mind that may touch something inside oneself and begin a new understanding.