Everything that exists, exists in motion. What seems to be the most permanent, the mountains, the trees, the moon in the night sky, is decidedly not. “The mountains”, says Dogen “are walking.
He who doubts that mountains walk does not yet understand his own walking.” As a photographer, it is tempting believe that we capture and preserve a moments of time. This, of course, is fallacy.
Michael O. Snyder | The River, The Moon, and IThe image the photographer creates contains the motion of the world. It contains the motion of the photographer, however subtle. And it contains the motion of the viewer. The image itself is the dance. The River, The Moon and I was shot entirely at dusk, in the liminal space between light and dark. Using long exposures of up to 15 seconds in limited light, I walk through that space, deliberately blending the observed world with the motion of the observer.
About Michael O. Snyder
Michael O. Snyder (b. 1981) is a photographer and filmmaker whose work focuses on the intersections of social justice and environmental sustainability. His photography has been featured in outlets such as The Guardian, Roads & Kingdoms, The Washington Post, The Wild Magazine, NPR, The Washingtonian, Political Science and Politics, and Beautiful Decay. As founder of Interdependent Pictures he has directed documentary films in Uganda, Ecuador and India. His work has been named Official Selection in over 30 film festivals and he has won numerous awards including Winner, Best Environmental Film (Canada International Film Fest), Winner, Best Documentary Feature (Blackbird Film Fest), Winner, Sir Edmund Hillary Award (Mountain Film Fest). Driven by a spirit of adventure, Mike has hiked the Appalachian Trail and John Muir Trails, cycled across Europe and ridden trains across Asia. He holds an MSc in Environmental Sustainability from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland and currently splits his time between Washington, D.C. and Charlottesville, VA. [Official Website]
