Elemental Image.

My name is Patrick Smith and  I have built this website using the Macromedia suite, Microsoft FrontPage and Adobe Photoshop. It is essentially an online gallery/display space for the work of my friends and family which catches my eye. In furtherance of this, 90% of the work is for sale. Each and every image on this site has been created with the sole purpose of showing the imaginations of the displayed artists. It is more simply a collection of ideas and moments captured, expressing the thoughts, passion and interests of the selected artists. 

As much as the British public believe it is not, the selected artists and myself firmly believe that photography is an art form. It may not be pen to paper, brush to canvas or even hand to clay. However, if the person behind the lens does not have the idea or the ability to capture, or simply, the inability to be in the right place at the right time with the vision, the idea can not become a reality.

Too many times I have heard people saying, "anyone could take that, it's not hard." To some degree this is true. If that was the case though, why don't they? Maybe, just maybe, the people who decide to use their cameras to create the ideas they have are that one step ahead. Maybe they are able to be called artists as they create the images or can see the images around them that they see in their minds eye. 

Anyone can set a camera to automatic and wind off shots, especially now we have digital, until they achieve the photograph they want. It takes true skill and a lifetime of knowledge, much the same as Leonardo da Vinci or Michelangelo with their paints and brushes, to capture the perfect photograph on film, where you don't know if you have the image until it's printed. A good photographer will know without seeing, that the image they have captured is the one that is wanted. The knowledge of film, camera and aperture will make this so.

I believe in my chosen field of art as much as anyone who is featured on this website.

Patrick G Smith.