In Focus: A Brief Intro

A little about me and why I shoot what I shoot

A little about me, and what I’m actually after with a camera

I’m a photographer based in Central New York: Edmeston, Cooperstown, the small towns and back roads of the region between the Adirondacks and the Catskills.

I’m literally right in the middle of the state. A day trip away from the best things central and northern NY has to offer.

Like most people with a camera, I spent years chasing sharp focus and correct exposure, getting the technical side right. That mattered for a while. It doesn’t anymore, not on its own.

What I’m after now is finding a moment in time. Something worth saving. A quiet moment in the forest that won’t happen again, early morning at a lake that nobody else is there to see, or preserving something that used to be, like an old barn, before it’s completely gone and forgotten. Rural decay, in the wabi-sabi sense: not ruin, but a kind of honesty that shows up once something stops trying to look new.

More Current Work

I shoot both digital (Fujifilm X-series) and film. I returned to film for some of my work specifically because it won’t show me the result right away. No instant feedback means I have to trust what I noticed in the moment, not what the screen confirms.

There’s a more personal reason the camera matters to me, too. When I stand in front of something and just take it in, the camera is the only way I get to carry it with me afterward.

This journal is where I write about that: the images and what I was actually looking for when I made them. Some weeks that’s about a place. Some weeks it’s about a mistake, or a thing I almost didn’t shoot. It’s rarely just about the gear.

Thanks for being here. If a photo or two makes you slow down for a second, that’s the whole point.

Where to Find Me

You can find more of my work at: Simmons Photography

If you want to work with me, or inquire about licensing: Contact Page