I am having troubled dreams at present
But I am not troubled at all
In the first I saw a huge spaceship
Crash into a high rise block of apartments
With devastating results
But I could not tell anyone
As my room was empty
In the dream that followed
I was with you
With my camera in my hand
As we were in the middle of an exciting and colourful festival
I tried to take the opportunity
To record the scene
But my camera was empty
And you had vanished from view
As a photographer I have always considered it an advantage to begin a relationship with your subject be it an inanimate object or a person
When I say a relationship I really mean that I begin a friendship with the person I am working with
I feel that this improves the quality of the photographs I take
When I work on commercial shoots I often find that I do not have much time to get to know the models and because of this the results can be artificial
But this is often what the customers are looking for so the discipline can work both ways
Yesterday I decided to take a photograph of a bowl of apples which had come from our orchard
But before I started I spent the morning with the apples in front of me
They were living creatures and I needed their friendship
I have not told anyone about my dreams
But they trouble me
In other dreams I am on a speeding train and cannot pay my fare
Or in a shop paying for my goods
When I drop my purse
And cannot find the coins
Which have rolled in all directions
I am a successful photographer and I live with my family in seclusion
We return to civilisation whenever we choose to return
At first it was an experiment as we had tired of the city
But we soon found that we liked it
Some have accused me of being reclusive
But I disagree with that idea
I am highly amused by my next assignment
As I have been asked by Harpers
To shoot a series of photos
Celebrating the simplicity of life
I think they are expecting Walden like results
But I am not so sure that is what they will receive
As I am no Thoreau
I often wonder if the man himself
During his time near Walden Pond
Had troubling dreams
If I could ever meet him
This would be the first question
I would ask
His famous work has often been referred to as performance art
Perhaps I am a performance artist
And not a photographer
I obsessively record our day to day lives in minute detail
As the seasons change around us
I want people to share this stage
But I will not share my dreams
That linger beneath the surface