Damon Shell

I have always been drawn to things that seem out of place or isolated in their existence; objects, locations and scenes that, devoid of their greater contextual surroundings, lead the viewer to question “Where is this place?” When in reality, it is generally somewhere most may pass quite often without noticing.

My images are rarely taken from an angle other than head-on, flattening perspective. This flatness creates a lack of spatial reference in which the common becomes somewhat unfamiliar. The viewer is invited to examine the symbiosis of color, line and form which, in passing is often overlooked.

The shooting conditions under which I choose to take some images also have a great effect on this sense of something dreamlike or surreal. Suddenly the simple abandoned motel of P1011415, when shot during a thunderstorm at dusk, or the common automobiles of P1012271, shot in the aftermath of a blizzard; take the viewer on a journey to somewhere strangely familiar, yet half dreamt, at a hazy distance.

www.dsphotoworks.carbonmade.com