Brianna Treleven, Introduction

These images are from an ongoing series about my constant anxiety and overwhelming thoughts. I am continually searching for balance: balance between comfort and discomfort, silence and noise, frustration and acceptance. The work has been produced in a stream-of-consciousness fashion. I begin with the goal of photographing but ultimately grab, arrange, and create spontaneously.

I believe this is the best representation of my thought process, a reflection I could never achieve through planning. 



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Kat Reagan, Introduction

It's almost as if I never knew you at all. You were only in my memory --
Located in another time,
outside of time.



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Andy Baker, Introduction

Metaphor for a Missing Moment 

 My photography aims to explore my unconscious. I often do not know where a certain body of work is going until it has already gotten there. A lot of the work is informal portraiture mixed with landscape and natural detail, which portrays my subjects in an aesthetically pleasing manner, and also creates a record of that person or place that, when printed, is tangible and real.

 I've been feverishly documenting my relationships with the people I am close to against their natural environments. I am seeking natural forms and beautiful light within this context, while trying to record and remember. The work often has reoccurring symbolic or spiritual elements which are referential to my late friend George Delany. His passing has and will continue to affect my photographic vision, and I feel as though this supernaturally influenced aspect is helpful in understanding the visually metaphorical statements I make with my work.

I work almost exclusively with 35mm format. I find that the smaller camera allows me to gain a certain level of intimacy that I feel is difficult to achieve with anything larger. Using film is a personal choice that allows me to come into closer contact with the original image, which I think allows me to more accurately render the final product the way I want to. Being able to document in some manner at all times is essential for my workflow. Not knowing when or where I will find a moment worth remembering keeps my creative process on edge, while creating tension within the work that gives the photographs impact. I deal with a lot of personal issues in my photography. It is therapeutic in the sense that it often expresses things I have trouble talking about with words.




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Hannah Hayes, Introduction

Sometimes I feel that my heaven is all around me.

“We are trying for something that’s already found us.” We are searching, waiting, for the type of beauty that will knock you out of your present moment. I find that I search for this beauty as if I am fulfilling a hunting instinct. The difference between beauty and the sublime is that the sublime is unreachable. The sublime is resilient to being fully represented and it is this quality that drives me to archive moments that come close to the sublime. When one finally reaches the sublime is that the end?

Our inability to grasp this strikes an archival impulse that cannot be ignored. In creating this archive I have produced an alternate reality; a reality that reflects my own while departing from it.



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Alexandra Jaffer, Introduction

I am in a liminal place. I often go through my day feeling trapped by my surroundings. As I navigate the world, I am constantly searching for a connection to something or someone. My images portray moments when I feel connected to the environment around me. These images mirror my own feelings of loneliness and longing, frustration and disconnection.

The ability to relate to my subjects motivates me to capture that moment.  It is then mine to save and decipher.   I gather these moments of connectedness, so I may then assemble a final collection of pictures.



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& her thoughts here

Catherine Ryan, Introduction

Stay Close 

 Photographing them validates their importance to me. I use my camera as a way of exploring relationships with those I am closest too. In a sense I use photography like a diary. The closer I get to someone, the more likely it becomes that I will photograph them; preserving our experiences and memories together, is my way of showing that I trust them. And I thank them for earning that trust by keeping their memory in my photos.

Historically, I have not been close to many men, and my photographs reflected this, unintentionally by the exclusion of men. Now that I am exploring my first intimate relationship with a man, I want to see our relationship unfold through my lens. Achieving this has been difficult and I have felt very amateurish in my photography around him. However, I’m not the only one adjusting. He also has to overcome his own discomfort at being photographed, “I’m going to have to get used to you taking pictures of things I wouldn’t think to take one of.”





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& her thoughts here

I know you through pictures is a collective of fine art photographers from the Rochester Institute of Technology graduating class of 2012.

 This blog serves as an outlet for the contributors to introduce their bodies of work, inspiration & to update on what they're currently working on.