Box Without Walls is about exploration, about observing the world through a camera lens. A camera is no more than a box, a closed container where the light gets in and exposes a pattern on a negative, or triggers light-sensitive pixels on a sensor. But this common object is also a passport, an open door that invites us to see what is around us, whether we are travelling to exotic locations or observing daily life at home. It doesn’t matter much what kind of camera or phone we use, it’s the seeing that matters.
I have been taking pictures for 50 years or so. I doubt whether many have any worth, objectively speaking, but they are important to me because they are my teachers. By taking pictures, I learn what is important to me and how to tell more effective visual stories. Through using a camera almost every day, I learn how to see compositions and light, and how to talk to strangers.
Box Without Walls is a new project for me, an opportunity to write about photography and the experience of travelling and seeing with a camera as my companion. And it’s also a chance for me to learn a new skill, which is creating my own self-hosted website, so I feel I should apologize in advance if everything is not professionally optimized! I hope you will enjoy exploring this site as much as I am enjoying creating it.
Welcome!
About me
I started out as a kid with a Kodak 110 Instamatic, switched to an SLR in high school, then studied journalism. After gaining newspaper experience, I moved on to other careers, but photography has always been part of my life, and my work.
My photographs have been featured in magazines & websites, on a book cover and a billboard. Some of my black-and-white street photos of Saint John were featured in a Pop-up show last spring. I am currently a co-moderator of the Instagrammers of Saint John (@igerssaintjohn) and I lead an informal photo club that gathers weekly.
I live in Saint John with my partner, a cat, and two adorable Cardigan Welsh Corgis.
By the way, I’m Gillian. Hello. 🙂