Second Place Photography

Tom Hennessy

Up and Down

Digital Photography

12 x 18", framed to 18 x 24 x 1.5"

$225

I visited the VMFA and was photographing the architecture. I was very interested in the stairways; the many lines and patterns present that can appear chaotic, but the structure becomes clear after viewing.

Artist Statement:

“When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment. I want to give that world to someone else.” - Georgia O’Keefe“

Art is the desire of a man to express himself, to record the reactions of his personality to the world he lives in.” - Amy Lowell

These quotations are not from photographers, but from a painter and a poet. My approach to photography is very much influenced by writers, poets and painters, and I especially love the work of Georgia O’Keefe and Edward Weston. I want the beauty of the natural world to be captured in my photos and I want to show the details that we easily overlook in daily life. It is common to see flowers in a garden, and there is much to admire in a well laid out garden. But, to me, the essence is in often in the details of the individual flowers - the slowly opening petals of a rose; the colors and flair of a calla lily blossom; the dewdrops on the petals of a dahlia. These are the images that excite me to make my photographs.