Joseph Szostak
email
website
Philosophy
I have found photography a great training for learning to see and for tuning into moments of perception and connection. I mean those moments where something stops you in your tracks and cuts through the usual chatter and preoccupations, and there's a heightened sense of just being there. Capturing that experience through photography is both satisfying and challenging.
Style
Photography has been my way of discovering elegance in the everyday world. I find I resonate with beauty of the human form, with sparse architectural lines, with the richness of the natural world, with reflections, abstractions and the painterly quality of light on surfaces. These are the qualities I try to emphasize in my photographs.
I’m interested in a whole gamut of subject matter ranging from travel photography to fine art photography, to landscapes and portraits.
Technique
I was trained in Miksang photography—Miksang means good eye in Tibetan. It's as much as way of seeing as it is photography, a discipline of paying attention to what grabs the attention, and then trying to render just that in the photograph. I shoot mostly with a Nikon D90 digital camera and print on an Epson 7900 large format printer using archival paper and inks.
Background
I have a degree in art education from Antioch College in Ohio. I learned darkroom techniques at the College of the Siskiyous in Weed, California. I studied writing with the some of the Beat Generation writers (Alan Ginsburg, William Burroughs and friends) who had gathered at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado. At Naropa I was introduced to eastern contemplative arts like Kyudo (Japanese archery), Ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement), Doha (spontaneous poetry) and also to meditation practice. On moving to Canada in 1979, I worked as a journalist in Ottawa, and practiced photography in conjunction with journalism. In Halifax, I studied Miksang with Michael Wood. I'm a member of Viewpoint Gallery and of the Photo Guild of Nova Scotia.
Publications
My photographs have appeared in publications such as the Toronto Globe and Mail, Harrowsmith, the Shambhala Sun, and Halifax Business News.
Exhibitions
I have participated in a number of group shows and have had two solo shows at Viewpoint Gallery in Halifax. Temples of Sand in 2008 presented photographs of the Great Sand Dunes of southern Colorado, and Living Sculpture took a whimsical look at how the sculptor's art shapes inanimate matter into vibrant life, and how that can be revealed and explored thought the photographers art. My photograph are also on display at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Art Sales and Rental.
Prices
$75 - $1200
website
Philosophy
I have found photography a great training for learning to see and for tuning into moments of perception and connection. I mean those moments where something stops you in your tracks and cuts through the usual chatter and preoccupations, and there's a heightened sense of just being there. Capturing that experience through photography is both satisfying and challenging.
Style
Photography has been my way of discovering elegance in the everyday world. I find I resonate with beauty of the human form, with sparse architectural lines, with the richness of the natural world, with reflections, abstractions and the painterly quality of light on surfaces. These are the qualities I try to emphasize in my photographs.
I’m interested in a whole gamut of subject matter ranging from travel photography to fine art photography, to landscapes and portraits.
Technique
I was trained in Miksang photography—Miksang means good eye in Tibetan. It's as much as way of seeing as it is photography, a discipline of paying attention to what grabs the attention, and then trying to render just that in the photograph. I shoot mostly with a Nikon D90 digital camera and print on an Epson 7900 large format printer using archival paper and inks.
Background
I have a degree in art education from Antioch College in Ohio. I learned darkroom techniques at the College of the Siskiyous in Weed, California. I studied writing with the some of the Beat Generation writers (Alan Ginsburg, William Burroughs and friends) who had gathered at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado. At Naropa I was introduced to eastern contemplative arts like Kyudo (Japanese archery), Ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement), Doha (spontaneous poetry) and also to meditation practice. On moving to Canada in 1979, I worked as a journalist in Ottawa, and practiced photography in conjunction with journalism. In Halifax, I studied Miksang with Michael Wood. I'm a member of Viewpoint Gallery and of the Photo Guild of Nova Scotia.
Publications
My photographs have appeared in publications such as the Toronto Globe and Mail, Harrowsmith, the Shambhala Sun, and Halifax Business News.
Exhibitions
I have participated in a number of group shows and have had two solo shows at Viewpoint Gallery in Halifax. Temples of Sand in 2008 presented photographs of the Great Sand Dunes of southern Colorado, and Living Sculpture took a whimsical look at how the sculptor's art shapes inanimate matter into vibrant life, and how that can be revealed and explored thought the photographers art. My photograph are also on display at the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Art Sales and Rental.
Prices
$75 - $1200
