There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer.
~ Ansel Adams
For me, there is a certain stillness when you take a photograph that carries with it a sense of the sacred. Whether you are in a field in the middle of nowhere or standing on a busy street, that moment between composing a shot and the snap of the shutter possesses a stillness that is difficult for words to define, and so perhaps therein lies the purpose of the photograph. In that moment you feel a sense of calm mingled with inspiration, excitement and the feeling of being connected to something beyond yourself, something deeply intrinsic to a living and breathing universe.
I consider it an amazing gift to be allowed to capture moments like these through my lens, even if they're only an elemental part of a much larger whole, so that they may find new life in my own memories and thoughts, and with luck, in the memories and thoughts of the viewer.
Magdalena Maria Altnau
June 2009