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PHILOSOPHY
As a writer and news reporter, I've learned firsthand how
Todd thinks and works. It began about five years ago when we -- both freelancing -- were about the only two journalists to do such a thing in the local Adirondack news market. We gravitated toward the same stories with the same kind of curiosity and sense of adventure: he shooting, me writing. It became readily clear that Todd is a great photographer. And we put our work together. It's been that way ever since. Arriving at a scene or an event now, we move about independently capturing the sense of place and human endeavor that mark the moment. I don't even have to say anything to Todd or he to me. We work in silence. But when we put the images and words together, it's an instant fit. Having that kind of confidence in somebody else's work does not happen often. I count myself lucky. I have a very unique perspective, then, on Todd's work, both as subject and colleague. It's a line never blurred and yet ever evolving, kind of like the dance of seasons. I felt like I knew as much as one could about another's art form when I interviewed him for this web site. Hoping to catch in words a sense of what people would see in what I see, I was surprised, again, to know there's always more to know. There are no secrets in Todd's work. But his raison d'etre is as clear as the look in his eye. Sunlight, he said, is his favorite light to shoot in. "It's the light everybody sees," Todd said. "Everything we look at has been lit by the sun; that's what we compare it to." Part of the essence found in Todd's work comes from experience and continued training in new technology and photographic technique. But part of it is sheer instinct. I asked Todd where that comes from, and he laughed a little, maybe incredulous because he knows I understand it. "I'm there as a spectator not to choreograph or create something that's not there," he said. "I focus and document the natural state of the subject I'm there to capture." The right shots have a feeling; he knows when he's got it. "You just see something and hear the shutter and feel it. Wow, I caught that." The feeling is one of fulfillment, of an artistic millisecond plucked from the progression of time. When it happens, it spreads. "I know somebody else is going to be able to look at that and feel how I felt," Todd explained. But connecting instinct to the event is another thing altogether. "A tremendous amount of any success in photography has to do with being in touch with the subject, involved, a witness, but also part of it. I don't want people to look at me as the wedding photographer guy or the guy with a camera in their face. I have to blend with the subject, if its a news event or a sporting event or something else. If I can't know how they're feeling, I can't portray it." As is always a point in our conversations, I asked Todd where he thinks this gift will take him in the future. "I don't know. It's an adventure, you know? You're always developing skills and relationships," he said, "technically perhaps. I hope to bring this in new directions to family celebrations, wedding events, any moment that marks a chapter in a life. A lot of the ways we celebrate are so fleeting. Through photography, we can keep them and share them with others; the record remains. What a tremendous way this is to define life. It can bring emotions back." So, my best guess, is stay tuned and have fun with any time you get to spend with Todd. You might learn something new, but you'll also have something to remember. Kim Smith Dedam |
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