Jeff Grandy

"For all the time spent sitting and staring at the water's antics, I am still surprised by what it reveals when the shutter is pushed. I love the way the light bends with the water's ebb and flow, joining jewel and mineral tones into shining mosaics. Every moment is a discovery, and no two moments are the same."

Jeff Grandy's first camera cost fifty cents and twenty-five Bazooka bubble gum wrappers. It left streaks of light on every image, but he was still hooked. Grandy describes his new, "Unfiltered" series as abstract realism. In his life-long fascination with water, he marvels at the camera's ability to capture what the eye cannot...joyous, one of a kind, magical arrangements of pure, liquid color.

Grandy's approach with the "Unfiltered" series is wonderfully basic. The artist hand-holds the camera while he wades through water that is six to thirty-six inches deep. Stepping carefully on the slippery stones, Grandy searches for small, random movements on the water's surface. The color from the creek bottom blends with these patterns that form the image structure.

Jeff Grandy could say he is entirely self taught, but what of the books by John Shaw, Freeman Patterson, Robert Ketchum, and Shinzu Maeda? Or the fine art print shows by Charles Cramer, William Neill, John Sexton and Huntington Witherill? These were eye-opening and visually motivating influences. Grandy has since taught his own photography workshops, and influenced many new photographers to pursue the craft.