Jerry Uelsmann
[Photographer, b. 1934, Detroit, Michigan, lives in Gainesville, Florida.]

 My visual quest is driven by a desire to create a universe capable of supporting feelings and ideas. 
 Ultimately, my hope is to amaze myself. The anticipation of discovering new possibilities becomes my greatest joy. 
 Each click of the shutter becomes an emotional investment, and a part of the world becomes our visual possession. 
 I have always felt I photographed the things I loved. 
 My contact sheets become a kind of visual diary of all the things I have seen and experienced with my camera. They contain the seeds from which my images grow. 
 …For the photograph is capable of engaging our perceptual and creative consciousness, and can prompt us to relate, reveal, and fantasize. It can question; it can define. It can provide clues; it can provide answers; it can provide mysteries. It can expose our wounds; reveal our joys. 
 Let us not delude ourselves by the seemingly scientific nature of the darkroom ritual; it has been and always will be a form of alchemy. Our overly precious attitude toward that ritual has tended to conceal from us an innermost world of mystery, enigma, and insight. 
 The out-of-focus image is a photographic phenomenon. The negative image is a photographic phenomenon. The multiple exposure is a natural aspect of photography. A lot of these phenomena have been more effectively exploited by people in other media but they belong naturally to photography and in my opinion should be very much a part of every photographer’s vocabulary. 
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