“Photography, as we all know, is not real at all. It is an illusion of reality with which we create our own private world.”

-Arnold Newman

            With staged macro photography I have been exploring the interaction of light with transparent and reflective surfaces. I consider my photography a series of experiments, a process of trial and error that builds upon past successes through the manipulation of variables. My process is unified by its simplicity and use of ordinary materials.  

            My attempts to translate impressions from altered states to normalcy have moved me to document abstractions, to grasp fleeting reflections and transform them into tangible images. The abstractions depict a distorted reality, a mundane existence rendered unfamiliar by a shift in perception. These photographs signify the vibrancy of new experience in this uncharted state of consciousness. 

-Erin O’Malley