Back home Corey Shay.
Through the Lens No 02

Photography.

I don't shoot to show other people so much as to show myself.

The camera is mostly just an excuse to pay closer attention.

Light through a kitchen window. A stranger caught mid-laugh. The ten quiet seconds before anyone notices the lens. I'm not after the impressive frame so much as the honest one, the photograph that feels like being there, not the one that looks like work.

Most of what I keep never gets shown to anyone. It piles up on hard drives and in shoeboxes, a private record of ordinary days I didn't want to forget. Every now and then, one earns a wall.

What I Keep Six things I point at
01
The Kitchen Window Morning light doing all the work, and someone half-awake standing in the middle of it.
Natural Light
02
Strangers, Mid-Laugh Caught a half-second before they notice. The best portraits are almost always accidents.
35mm
03
The Ten Quiet Seconds The pause before anyone realizes the camera is up. That stretch is the whole game.
Candid
04
Empty Rooms The way a place quietly holds the shape of the people who just left it.
Interiors
05
The Long Way Home Walked slowly, on purpose, looking for the one frame that makes the detour worth it.
On Foot
06
Film, When I'm Patient Thirty-six chances and no take-backs. Nothing keeps you honest quite like it.
400 ISO

I keep the ones that feel like being there, not the ones that look impressive.

The Contact Sheet A handful of keepers