The Txatxos Photograph

There is a complete freedom of expression in fine art that you never find in the commercial world. After many years working in this arena I began to create pieces of work purely for myself, without the need for client approval or needing to consider a marketing agenda. This freedom allows you to find your own style and medium quite quickly. The development of style, for some, is a difficult thing. But for me it has been almost instant and entirely natural. I never consider if a piece of work fits my style because everything I create comes from the subconscious so the process happens entirely naturally without too much consideration. Everything I have done during the past thirty five years has led me to the point at which I now find myself. The desire to create my own fine art pieces is now far too strong to ignore. Every skill I have learned along the way contributes in some way to these images I am now producing: the designer's eye for composition, the photographer's ability to capture and frame the moment, the retoucher's ability to compile several images into one with technique and skill in Photoshop, the technicians desire for colour and extended tonal ranges, and the illustrator's eye for form and function, colour palettes, light and shade. All of these elements come together to completely engage the viewer. I consider my work somewhat unique in terms of genre. It source is in the photographic image, but most images become a collage of several images in order to achieve the feel and composition I am looking for. I rework them in photoshop to re-define the colour palette and to achieve a painterly feel, constantly adding texture along the way. This is not to simply copy the look of a painting. It is intended to provide the feeling and emotion that I simply cannot achieve solely within the photographic medium. In essence then the images are a hybrid photograph and painting achieved and delivered in what I believe to be an exciting, relatively new and utterly legitimate medium: digital.