Buffalo by Summer ‘07 contender Patrick Simpson

Hi. My name is Michael and I will be assisting Marina for the remaining days of the Hey, Hot Shot! Summer Edition. The entries this season, like every season, have been excellent and we would like to feature the work of a couple of more photographers before the competition closes.

This is my first entry, so I would like to apologize beforehand in case I sound overly verbose without having said anything really coherent.

I would like to start off with Patrick Simpson. When I first saw his photos, I was drawn to the colors and richness of the images. The composition of his shots is another aspect that I like, and I was not surprised to find out that in addition to being a photographer, he also works as a cinematographer on documentaries, commercials, and music videos.

The above image of the buffalo reminds me of a photograph from 2006 Hey Shot! Ne Plus Ultra, Ian Baguskas' series, Search for the American Landscape. I was born in the Prairie province of Alberta, and having left shortly after I was born, was never able to live and experience that landscape, so images like Simpson and Ian's of this particular terrain captured within a subtle, dark veil, evoke a sublime feeling that is in tandem with my wishing and imagining what it would be like to be in the midst of such fleeting, natural beauty.  Simpson and his work make me think of the English Romantic poets, like Woodsworth, Blake and Keats and their personal sense of awe with nature.

In his work statement, Simpson expresses a similar lifelong curiosity, appreciation and wonderment:

The first photographs I ever took was portraits of stuffed animals at the age of 5 with a old 110 camera. While the subject of my work has evolved, I've never lost that initial childlike awe at the magical process of photography.

It is a great thing to be able to convey a feeling through an image as a photographer and to have a natural affinity towards being able to execute that in a wonderfully-pleasing, stylistic way. As a photographer, Simpson says:

Through exploration, I've learned to slow down, observe carefully, and find the heart in the world around me. The camera is the tool that I can pour myself through, in order to build the stories of my life and the people and places I see.

Simpson's photographs are all crafted with the sensibility and expertise of that of a seasoned cinematographer. His photographs are well-framed, lighted, positioned, and...beautiful. More of his work may be found here on his website.

Born and raised in Detroit, Simpson moved to Los Angeles and graduated from Art Center College of Design.

The Competition closes on Tuesday, August 14, 2007 @ 11am Eastern Time. You can enter by clicking here.