Joseph Yeh, Photography

Artist Statement
When I would say something is "easy," a person I knew often responded: “It’s not hard, it just takes time.” It was their way of telling me to not plan anything too far in advance. This statement tends to be true for a lot of things in life. Years ago, when I rented a studio from the Theological Seminary in Lancaster, PA, I dreamed of making a living as a painter. I was studying art at Franklin & Marshall College, which was literally across the street from where I lived. My process at the time was interpreting literary works, and I painted scenes from Dante’s “Inferno”, which albeit was not a very original idea, but I dared myself. I found myself painting scenes from Victor Hugo’s autobiography. I had a difficult time painting in my studio - I felt isolated. It took me a few years before I realized why I felt the way I did. Process is important, and I would benefit a great deal from experimentation in alternative processes.

I studied filmmaking in London for a couple of years, and we shot on film. It was rare back then; it’s rarer now - to shoot film. I prefer digital over film. I have more control over the image. Film goes through so many different people’s hands, and even if I did everything myself, there are so many opportunities where I can ruin the work and have to start over. I predominately use a full frame DSLR, and a zoom lens for my work. I freelance as a sports videographer and a wedding photographer when I need the work. Last year, I bought the iPhone 12 Max Pro, which is the newest apple phone on the market. The camera and lens are incredible, it has surpassed my Canon. The phone, also, allow you to edit the photos, and I can download apps to increase my creativity and production - it is a real time saver.

As a painter, I was inspired by Edvard Munch. It was not until I visited Iceland that I saw the effects of the Scandinavian sun. I thought he had invented his own language; it turns out he observed and captured what he saw. Yes, art is a representation of what is real. I have a different understanding and appreciation for his art. By then I was no longer painting and had picked up the camera. I was making movies in London, and I called myself a conceptual artist, a term coined by Marcel Duchamp. Alas, photography is a great tool for a conceptual artist. During the Italian Renaissance, a hierarchy of genres was devised for paintings, in order of greatest to least importance: history, portraits, genre, landscape, animal, and still life. I enjoy making portraits, landscapes and still life. I wonder what that says about me as a photographer.