Donna Cosentino - Artist Statement
As I wander the places I love, I am drawn to the quiet truths of nature and man. In the soft light I work in I find a grace that brings me closer to an awareness of the subject and my spirit. These images are revelations of the connection between my self and my subject, made more real with the release of the shutter.
It's fascinating to me that photographs become as much about the person behind the camera as they do the place or object photographed. Many photographers believe that all photographs are self-portraits in some way. I feel this is so with my work.
The photograph is in every way about time. Photographers speak of "stopping time" or of "capturing timeless beauty". For me, photography is about being suspended in time and becoming aware of my essential being in the freedom of that experience. In Zen meditation this is called zazen-bringing all your attention to the present moment.
I have spent an hour spellbound by bubbles on the surface of the water tumbling down from Mt. Whitney. I have deeply studied the afternoon light streaming through the Cottonwoods along the Owens River. I have marveled at the tracks left by hundred pound stones on the floor of the Racetrack in Death Valley until the last vestige of light leaves the playa. These moments lost in time are the gift that photography allows. My photographs are meditations on beauty and spirit. They are my brief encounters with enlightenment.