"It is both in the being and seeing in and of a moment that I create my images."

Black & White Fine Art Photography

I believe a successful artist never "captures" a moment but actually "releases" it to others. With my photography, (both black & white and Polaroid) I strive to transcend the documentary nature of the format by the sheer force of the experience. My work is both reflection and expression in that I do not aim or plan a shot, but instead allow myself to be found within it as it occurs. There is neither prior preparation nor postproduction with my black and white stills. What you see is what is happening as it happens. The only special effect or sense of majik is the one I am caught up in as the moment forms. The only illusion is the memory of that flash in time. I play in the field and frame of what is to become a picture. It's as simple as that.

Black & White Self-Portrait Series

Photography is a part of me. It's as familiar and common to my life as is sleeping and eating. A camera is always by my side and I shoot most every single day with the pleasure and ease of a well developed habit. I often call photography my third eye because like an extra sense, it is as reflexive to my perceptions and intuitions as are my very own eyes.

I particularly love to capture the "feel" of what I surround myself with; my family, friends & home. It is within them that I am the most relaxed and aware of the moods of the moments as they come and go. I guess the honesty there is self-evident and in such close relationships there is nothing really trying to hide but instead sincerely attempting to reveal itself. With self-portraits I take this closeness and familiarity even further and turn inwards towards my self.

These self-portraits are simply that, my camera in my hand, composing backwards & seeing what those loved ones who are usually the subject see. Taken while I was living in Miami's south beach, they are portraits of me as if some invisible photographer was always near by to capture my thoughts and feelings throughout any given day. Like sleep walking or automatic writing, I am in two places at once. One part of me is unaware of the other when these shots are being taken. Only after they are developed is there any recollection of what actually was taking place. As the object and the observer, only after there is a solid picture can I, in the third person, truly take a look.

"While black and white photography expresses the world I live within, Polaroid's reveal the world within me."

Polaroids seldom get the recognition they deserve and are unfortunately often viewed as alternative photography at best and party souvenirs at worst. I believe both these view points are currently being challenged and will change in the near future as more artists continue taking this very malleable art form to new fields of expression and to the forefront of fine art photography.

Polaroid photography offers a personal "behind the scenes" feel to every moment. They reveal a sense of an almost exclusive and familiar intimacy, of being there. They carry the energy of instant, raw, documentary footage. Think of your favorite black & white fine art nude, then imagine the same shot with a polaroid and outside your personal aesthetics, the first realization is that a stark unmistakable living reality has suddenly entered that clean timeless world of absolutes.

Polaroid SX-70 Multiple Exposure Self-Portrait Series

What better way to reflect on emotions and document your own self-discovery than revealing yourself outside the standard eye of accepted or expected mediums? With my multiple exposure self-portrait series I have used the SX-70 Polaroid format to explore spontaneity in both my methods and my moods. I let go, fill the frame and create and in moments the image is born. It is a beautiful experience. Each series expresses and emotes a different color of energy, a distinct texture of emotion, a particular state of mind.

The names and titles are chosen from Astrology, the ancient art of divination and archetypal study of the soul. Each series and individual image is a revealing elemental message of emotion. Each exposed moment is a force of instantaneous discovery. Side by side, they are my living tarot of colors, subtle flashes vividly revealing secrets of a dream world that can speak only by symbol. These symbols are the raw elements of self-discovery, the forces that frame my unfolding.

-Alicia Sparaco