artist note

Celebrating Light

A Study of Light and Darkness

This portfolio of photographs has its roots in my interest in the extreme play of light and darkness that appears everywhere in life … I admired the power of the sun and big sky when I first moved to Alberta in 1969, and it is still one of the life forces that guides me. While this aspect was always present in my mountain photography, I feel that it also manifests in all aspects of our daily life. It shows through much of my earlier work (notably the “Living with Covid” portfolio). Perhaps the best expression of this “Celebration of Light” is this verse:

"Ring the bells that still can ring
 Forget your perfect offering
 There is a crack, a crack in everything.
 That's how the light gets in."

(Leonard Cohen, Anthem)

Motivated by Cohen’s verse, this collection of B&W photographs then explores the power of the sun and the interaction of light with our daily living. The photographs will take the viewer through the same apartment at different times of the day, from waking to night. Hopefully, some images will let you discover new interesting details of the living spaces that may be otherwise forgotten.

The B&W rendition is, in my view, ideal for the subject. Although the entire series was shot by a digital camera, some of the images deserve enlargement. The portfolio was exhibited at cSPACE in 2025, where two of the images (CL_08 and CL_09) were a large size and allowed the viewer to “enter” the interior.