Craig J. Sterling
Since the age of 8, I have been fascinated with photography. My earliest recollections were black and white images by Ansel Adams and Edward Weston and Eugene Atget featured in old camera magazines. I also loved looking at my mother’s Vogue and Harper’s Magazines that featured fashion and portrait photography by Irving Penn and Richard Avedon. Photography had seduced me … it has carried through to adulthood, but in a more intellectual and sophisticated manner. Instead of photographing things, I like to photograph ideas.
My images interpret the environment in the form of light, shape and texture. My goal is to arouse the senses, challenge the imagination and narrate a sense of timelessness, mood and place. Portraying the familiar in unfamiliar ways is what makes my vision so recognizable.
Many individuals after seeing my imagery for the first time exclaim, “I’ve seen that before, but never quite like that!”
On a technical note, since 2000, my work has integrated traditional film/analog photographic processes with some of today’s most advanced digital imaging technologies, all to exacting museum standards and archivability. Prior to 2000, all of my prints were made in the traditional black and white wet darkroom utilizing various gelatin silver printing papers, chemistries and print-toning techniques. To ensure their greatest value, collectability and uniqueness, all of my photographs are digital pigment prints in limited editions of 50 or less. Currently, I am limiting my editions to 25 or less.
