Entheogen

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ENTHEOGEN (greek)- "becoming the divine within"

As a native of the Pacific Northwest, Conner was born into a world of vibrant natural beauty. As he grew, so did his love of that magnificently beautious universe which surrounded him on a daily basis. When coupled with a desire to share his awe and appreciation of nature, Conner soon discovered photography as a primary outlet to express his own observations of beauty and wonder he experienced daily. This unique appreciation and lust for life--originating partly from a decade-long, life altering illness--blossomed at every opportunity to understand the nature of balance in life; acknowledging the need for darkness to reveal the light. As such, Conner's photographical style focuses on the way light interacts with and through time & space.

While pursuing methods of capturing light in nature, Conner experiments with both Black & White film photography, as well as digital methods of image alteration. Utilizing a wide variety of methods and equipment allows him to cover a wide swath of subjects and concepts, while expressing his own intrigue with light, space, time and nature.

One of Conner's preferred methods of approaching a subject is to place the camera lens as close as possible to it to fill the frame, while utilizing a large aperture size to create a shallow depth of field. This was one of the first lessons a high school instructor taught Conner when he first realized his passion for black & white photography. In order to create a greater sense of enigmatic intrigue within his images, Conner strives to get up close and personal with his subjects. Juxtaposing the extreme focus of the foreground against a blurry background with a shallow depth of field was a related technique he was taught at that time, to achieve a similar effect of drawing the viewer’s eye to the intended subject. Though he strongly preferred shooting landscapes in the past, generally using a deep depth of field, the artistic effect caused by moving in close and using a shallow depth of field on a subject has become a new favorite. Al Magnus was of primary inspiration for a lot of Conner's images, not only because Magnus used his own field of study to explore photography, but also because of his displays of “otherworldliness” in his images. This latter aspect of Magnus’ artistic style is something Conner enjoys exploring while digitally editing images.