Richard Henry
Nothing is Different,
but Everything is Changed.
Given the right context, the most ordinary moment can take your breath away.
It is up to us to decide whether or not the world is filled with infinite potential, unlimited beauty, and delightful nuance.
My work has been devoted to exploring what it is that constitutes a moment. How much life can be held in an instant? How much context can be revealed in a single image? What is known at first glance, yet left unseen?
The shift from filmmaking to still photography highlighted these questions for me.
I am amazed how often the moments that are beautiful or evocative on film simply do not work as still images. Time, or timing, seems to be the variable at play.
In his book The Art Spirit, Robert Henri writes “Limitation inspires creativity.”
I have lived by this quote since I first read it in graduate school. For this reason I strive to achieve as much as possible in-camera in all of my work.
I am from Los Angeles, where my work as a filmmaker served as the foundation of my photography. The sprawling city, with its adjacent beaches, mountains, and desert served as my photography lab. One of my favorite meditative pastimes was to ride my bicycle on Fountain or Hope with a Canon AE-1 slung over my shoulder. Eventually I found myself more excited to take photographs than to make a film.
I left Los Angeles for love. I met my wife at a meditation retreat in 2021, and subsequently moved to Williamsburg, Virginia, where we began our relationship. We split our time between there and the Shenandoah Valley, surrounded by the ever-inspiring mountain landscape and the life it holds.
The title of this page is a quote, taken from one of my favorite Paul Simon songs.