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At
14 years of age, I knew that I was destined to be a fine art photographer.
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While living in Rochester, NY, I stumbled across an old building associated with
George Eastman, which
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led to my reading of his biography. Before I even
completed the book, I knew that I was going to be a
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photographer and for the
next 10 years, photography was my complete existence. If I wasn’t taking
pictures
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or in the darkroom, I would spend countless hours looking at every book
and image I could find. There was
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nothing in my life except photography.
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Even at an early age I found myself drawn to a particular style of image, one
that would literally cause a
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physical reaction in me. They were dark images
created by Adams, Weston, Bullock and others. I
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knew that I was destined to
create such images.
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I
am often asked, “Why black and white?” I think it’s because I grew up in a
black-and-white world.
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Television, movies and the news were all in black and
white. My heroes were in black and white. My
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images are an extension of the
world in which I grew up.
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An
important early influence in my life and my art was the poem “Invictus” by
William Ernest Henley.
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Out of the night that covers me,
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Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
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I thank whatever gods may be
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For my unconquerable soul.
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In the fell clutch of Circumstance
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I have not winced nor cried aloud.
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Under the bludgeonings of Chance
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My head is bloody, but unbowed.
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Beyond this place of wrath and tears
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Looms but the Horror of the shade,
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And yet the menace of the years
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Finds, and shall find me, unafraid.
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It matters not how strait the gate,
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How charged with punishments the scroll,
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I am the master of my fate:
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I am the captain of my soul.
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For me, this powerful poem evokes dark
and contrasty images, which form the basis and inspiration
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for my photographs.
One of the results has been my current project, “Light Emanating from Darkness,”
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which I see as a message of hope and of self determination. Darkness in my
images represents the trials
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of our human existence while the light represents
the strength and power that comes from the realization
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that we are the captains
of our souls. For me color records the image, but black and white captures
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the
feelings that lie beneath the surface.
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Cole Thompson
