Riffs #1

Anybody can play. The note is only 20 percent. The attitude of the motherfucker who plays it is 80 percent. -Miles Davis

This series of photos, which I call Riffs, resonates like modern jazz. Since I’ve been in Florida, I’ve made it a mindfulness practice to carry my camera or phone and wait for a photo to come to me. I’m not hunting. I’m listening.

I’m listening, with my intuition, through my eyes, awake for something subtle — a shift in light, a tension in a line, a mood that hovers just beneath the surface. It’s like having music in my mind, but instead of playing an instrument I’m using a camera. The frame becomes the measure. Light becomes tone. Angles become rhythm.

I’m not interested in representing the thing itself. A palm isn’t about botany. A street isn’t about traffic. A building isn’t about architecture. A shoreline isn’t about geography. I want the image to act like a riff — structured but loose, slightly bent, unfinished on purpose. Something that lingers, hums, and leaves a little space for the viewer to improvise.