DENNIS NEAL VAUGHN • A CONVERSATION ABOUT SEEING •
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Artist Statement

"In the slightest of things,
In the least obvious choice,
Perchance there to light upon

A moment of Grace." 
— Dennis Neal Vaughn

Photography for me is a very intuitive process. It requires me to be engaged in the world, to be connected in some way, and to react to what is before me at any given moment. I always try to be ready to capture an image or experience I am having whenever and wherever I go. In working in this manner I can then step back and begin to evaluate the photographs I have printed and see patterns, emotions, and themes emerge somewhat organically. Of course this process is always tinged with present and past experiences and how I find my place within the world, where I fit in relation to the photographs, and what my voice is as an artist.

Albert Camus in The Myth of Sisyphus stated that, "Thinking is learning all over again how to see, directing one’s consciousness, making of every image a privileged place." I try to discover within the realm of the everyday world that "privileged place," be it in a connection to or in the isolation and disconnection of life out in the city streets and in the landscape, particularly in a post-documentary environment.


Points I keep in mind
  • ​To have a conversation about seeing. 
  • To find a grace, a visual sense and understanding of the narrative power of the everyday. 
  • To pose questions not answers, intentions.
  • To use the language of photography as poetry uses language.
  • To explore the immediacy of photography, like that of drawing, to make thought visible. 
  • To make discoveries from within the photographs themselves. 
  • To have a direct response to experience as opposed to just making pretty pictures.
  • To have the experience, the experience of the photograph, the experience of being in and seeing the world.
  • To explore, react, push ahead. Focus.


Best Advice
"I have been taking photographs for 30 years now, and it has steadily become less important to me that the photographs are about something in the most obvious way. I am interested in more elusive and nebulous subject matter. The photography I most respect pulls something out of the ether of nothingness… you can't sum up the results in a single line."
— Award-winning street photographer Paul Graham, quoted in the Guardian.




​All images and site content © Dennis Neal Vaughn 2021
  • home
  • Photographs
    • Just One Breath More.
    • Billboard Creative 2018
    • Neither Here Nor There, I: Shadow and Soul
    • Neither Here Nor There, II: Towards A Distance
    • Neither Here Nor There, III: The State of Things
    • Betwixt and Between
    • Along The Edge Of San Francisco
    • Twin Peaks
    • Above The American River
  • Books
    • Neither Here Nor There
    • Betwixt and Between
  • About
    • Artist Statement
    • Bio
    • CV
    • Contact
    • News and Shows
    • Blog