Mathew St.Lezin (MathewStLezin)

Photography allows me to leave my house and walk out into the world to experience true form and beauty. It allows me to show not only what I see but what I feel about a scene.

When one examines the little details of creation an enormous depth is added to the appreciation of the intricacies of the world. There is an interconnectedness to everything in the universe. It is the job of the photographer to study how everything interacts and takes part in the dance of life. On the street, light is constantly changing; shadows grow and shrink, taking on a life of their own. Once the photographer has begun to truly study the small details of life, the world will appear as a new place. With proper training of the eye, the photographer will begin to notice all of the beautiful details of everyday life that had previously been taken for granted. Normal, mundane objects like the legs of a piano or the plant in the window begin to take on a new life and have a fresh character and personality. It is amazing how easy it is to go through life without actually looking at anything.

Through photographs, the photographer can show how he sees the world; not just a record of what is in front of him (what he literally sees) but how he sees the world on an emotional and spiritual level. Photography is interpretation and representation.

What is the purpose of photography? For some it is to capture those decisive moments of life; those where compositional beauty crosses with a journalistic interest. For others, it is meaningless; a photograph is merely a moment in time. For some, photography is a way to show the strength and beauty of the individual. For others it is to show the strength and beauty of nature. In contemporary photography there are also those who wish to show the degraded nature of man and chaos in the world. For me, the purpose is to see the beauty, design and intelligence in the world; to see the hand of God.