It’s taken me the better part of 50 years to fully realize that my soul lies in photography and its limitless perspectives. All my life, I’ve been captivated by the way a single subject evokes different emotions, depending on the way one looks at it. At 10 years old, I entered a drawing I made laying on my bedroom floor looking up at the furniture. I called it from an ant’s point of view. I didn’t win, but that drawing opened the door to a lifetime of always looking for different perspectives. Whether this shapes my thought process or vice versa, I'm always compelled to look at everything from as many different perspectives as possible. A favorite Marcus Aurelius quote of mine is that “Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective and not the truth”. Although my work consists of a combination of street, lifestyle, abstract, landscape, and astrophotography; the unifying theme is in the varying perspectives.

There are limitless subjects and as many different ways to frame them in lifestyle and street photography. Above, below, behind, up close, depth of field, exposure, or whatever unique perspective one’s mind concocts, the image feels different than it if composed any other way. I’m often drawn to scenes that appear as though I am seeing them in a photograph. Sometimes I make an image then and there, other times I come back hoping for different light or elements in the scene. Light changes constantly, bouncing to and fro, its origins as unknown as its destination. I can’t help but wonder if the rock we’re floating on and all of its intricacies, might be composed of particles of the same light we see when we gaze at the night sky.

That thought didn’t lead me to astrophotography, but it is becoming a foundation of sorts for my night sky work. I still shoot low shots looking up, trying to visualize how a small creature might see the cosmos. I look for a long-forgotten stone bench that someone sat on hundreds or thousands of years ago, seeing a night sky unpolluted by artificial light, reading the nightly tale of the cosmos. What did they think about it? I’ll never know, but putting myself in that spot, either literally or figuratively, gives me a sense of connection across time while also emphasizing the immensity of it.

Jeff Lawrence

Spotify:

https://l.instagram.com/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fopen.spotify.com%2Ftrack%2F5tAVndmbIjVi9U1rczM4Ah%3Fsi%3D_6TxJcHmTO6eWZBc9T-5tg%26utm_source%3Dcopy-link%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_content%3Dlink_in_bio%26fbclid%3DPAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAcGRvZgJzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA85MzY2MTk3NDMzOTI0NTkAAachXDq4P5rdh7y1VPm1mb-vlUQlP1dK5TvcP7KvMJAshHZGffK_R-sClL5yLQ_aem_IJpXkWuscUyNniE1UDTBiw&e=AUCe1BMfpSU4b8WqVeolisXwq7D86_DZF11pjAH0cjVFomz3Xn0kLHcNPZ2cJwchx6aKUKL4JOdtAuh48EzTaD-B4K_5b5EZn9_NVqtmJcopc_eH-67uUzxFCbeTkH2Ohp-j2cwNde-XwqSMo0mafv5l8LGr

Apple Music:

https://l.instagram.com/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fmusic.apple.com%2Fus%2Falbum%2Fparanoid-funk%2F6808971295%3Fi%3D6808971296%26utm_source%3Dig%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_content%3Dlink_in_bio&e=AUArKTwHlyEfVn8D0cRi_B_I_pPYCurnbZiB5wLaxdNh2o4tORfN5s0c4ikb7y5_NLnfvvpCS4JTDTx6pV9PQ9Vfiqe1juQP_P1sTEzGJMHwuo0m8iaVI2Co-UTlZ-blTduoEvKjBZ0haCAA5vGoxr9XlfTp

Soundcloud:

https://l.instagram.com/?u=https%3A%2F%2Fon.soundcloud.com%2FDXjKVM0AWZPAPypK5D%3Futm_source%3Dig%26utm_medium%3Dsocial%26utm_content%3Dlink_in_bio%26fbclid%3DPAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAcGRvZgJzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA85MzY2MTk3NDMzOTI0NTkAAacOHbqdusF0Ahddy3EeUpk_rSymG097fZjcu7uelo2JrIgRg-WieduHjb4UuA_aem_a3D9aYKB0eY22NKwhBivmQ%26utm_id%3D97760_v0_s00_e0_tv3&e=AUDmUCyRypEoGKlPWkGN62vGtG4NRNHlqcChqNfzDzKO-ikJcCDHQGlEDhgcwjz1KpKt3eWaGVzmyn3IvICb0jgztMUYO5sYWoIg70pz0kyxNLxm0gIxVpbKGLDTi_XlIQU6gtNo3dMa9ZNquEELGGExLJUl