Many have already set out to capture everyday beauty into words, drawings, sounds, sculptures, and other forms of expressions. The work presented here is just another hymn to that omnipresent beauty. And likewise, one of the many reminders out there to occasionally slow down life, to mindfully experience the abundant moments of beauty surrounding our everyday life, and to express a form gratitude for these moments, in any way that works for us individually.
Like any experience of beauty, the experience of visual beauty could be regarded as an expression of Love, with the characteristic of it being indiscriminate, selfless, unconditional, and unselfconscious: It is there available for any being to experience, without expecting or demanding it to do so, without expecting any response, and without trying to be beyond what it naturally is. Beauty in that sense is universal, it surrounds our daily lives in any place at any moment.
As conditioned patterns induced by modern day lifestyles increasingly place filters between our senses and these beauties, for many of us these moments become underexposed. We fail to see them in our everyday life and instead need stronger, intenser and wilder impulses to experience some sense of beauty. It is only in cultivating awareness for these filters, seeing them for what they are and then letting them go, that we can expose ourselves again to the simpler moments of everyday beauty.
My work is also motivated by the capacity of storytelling and photography to project light on otherwise underexposed themes, places and people. As selective as the stories presented here might seem, they aim to serve the higher purpose of raising general awareness for underexposed subjects. If a certain underexposed subject captivates your interest, calling you to share it with a wider audience, you are invited to get in touch with me. Together we can explore ways of using writing, photography and film documentary to raise awareness for it.
Several times I have been made aware by book editors and others about my tendency to underexpose my photographs. Through reflection, I have come to realize that my visual appreciation of beauty is being drawn towards contrast rich scenes. Consequently, I have decided to embrace this and continue to capture moments slightly underexposed. In most cases, my camera’s exposure dial is set to purposely underexpose.
Ibrahim Bokharouss