The Tallon Travels

“It used to be that the pleasures of travel were really about the photographs I might find in new environments. The time and space to wander new territory and just see was in large part the excitement of it. It was time out of the studio to respond rather than anticipate and construct.

Shoots occasionally bring me to Manhattan or Los Angeles. I hope for more and more of that. When I travel now I don’t bother lugging heavy gear around during my wanderings. My iPhone provides the snapshot approach that I want to experience. Like a sketch, or a visual note recorder, I’m free to see things and record them quickly without drawing attention.

Much of the work I do in studio is very deliberate, meticulous and can be very tedious. It suits an aspect of my personality as the builder/perfectionist. What I need from snapshots is the “sketching”, the quick takes and attractions of our ordered and chaotic surroundings. Those sketches tell me about what interests me and I use that knowing in my work. That process reinforces my way of seeing and helps me continue to evolve as an image-maker.

The introduction of Instagram provided a forum for publishing some of these photos. I often never did a thing with them but am enjoying posting them from time-to-time now. Not unlike Vivian Maier’s street photography, the process of seeing and composing is the work. The resulting image and object of the print is just a by-product and not the point at all”. Sue Tallon