A Rorshock test for sure with this image, from my “Ink and Water Series”.

I chose this image for its white field and black line-drawing quality, similar to a pen and ink water color. The abstraction is created by dropping India ink into water and in this case swirling the solution with a chopstick to capture what develops. The process is sometimes conscious, but more often the whim of the Gods has a role in developing unexpected forms that reveal themselves only upon editing. So far I have found a fish, a face in the shadow, cat eyes, a bird head, a human buttock, scuba fins and a dolphin. What do you see?

The subtly of the composition lays in the soft highlights which are dramatically contrasted by the deep blacks, providing folds of hidden realities in their inky depths. I enjoy shaking up the notions of what a photograph can really be. Most might say, “is that a painting or a watercolor”?

This gossamer rendering, and other investigations into process and concept, keeps me coming back to photography for all of the myriad ways it can be created, manipulated and captured.