Photography is the writing with light. If I convert this to mathematics then W+L=P
Or writing plus light equals photography. Then P-L=W! This takes an abstraction to understand but how can we make sense of this mathematical truth? So let’s begin to remove the light from photography. Our first step is to ‘un print’ the print because it was made with light. Then we need to unexposed the film because it was the first application involving light. Now we are left with a blank film that should be equal to writing?! It is not equal but it is equivalent. Film has the potential to become a picture that is worth a thousand words (an old truism). Writing has the potential to become an image created by a thousand words. Here components of writing become the color found in photography.
Now we have to go the other direction as well where P-W=L. We cannot in this instance assume numerical values but must first make some kind of conversion for this equation to work. I assume that photography must be history because we cannot photograph the future; by the time we look at a photograph we are already viewing the past. Writing is nothing more than an explanation. Subtracting now the explanation out of history we are left with an idea. An idea of what could happen or what did take place is all we are left with if we remove the explanation from history. Light (light bulb) is often used as a metaphor for idea.
This is the approach I have considered for making art. The result can be incredibly diverse depending on the way you apply the math. I photograph structures because they are visual explanations of our reality. I redraw the images to better understand their potential. I create processes for execution that compare to the mathematical analogies I consider to be the explanation of Photography.