The beauty of order

If you seek quietness in the chaos of the city, then you will find it in Jeff Seltzer's very special views on his daily surroundings. With his camera the Californian photographer creates symmetry and an order of vision that comforts the eye.

Every day, on his way to work, he is surrounded by the chaos of Los Angeles: traffic jams, advertising, shopping malls and too many people. A world out of order as it seems - uncontrollable and intimidating. Jeff Seltzer was born in this city and he knows the anxiety this world can produce. Together with his wife and two daughters he lives in Sherman Oaks, a suburb of Los Angeles. However, he has come to realize that he finds comfort in creating a sense of harmony among the seemingly unrelated visual data around him. For him the only way to restore this harmony and an order of vision in a scattered world is by carefully framing things with the viewfinder of his camera. "It is a way for me to gain control, and it reduces my anxiety." So he gets up early in the morning to find that lone parking-meter down the road or the abandoned cart standing on a foggy Baseball field. The majority of pictures are scenes that he sees every day, it is only when he stops and looks that he actually creates this order.

This sense of symmetry comes from his background in statistics and mathematics, Jeff presumes. "When you look at numbers it has to be right or it's no good." He actually has a Master's degree in Communications and Rhetoric and is a partner in a market research firm. Years of training in data analysis has clearly influenced his photography. Also things have to be true, not arranged. "That would be cheating, why not go into a studio?" One of his favorite pictures shows a row of telephones on a white wall in a hotel in Los Angeles. Three look alike; the fourth one has a long cord. The photo is simple, clean and uncluttered. There is nothing to distract the eye, but there is also a break in the pattern, which creates an interest in the photo. And no: of course he did not arrange that cord.

The principles of the photographer also include his camera. It is always a Canon with a fixed lense, a 28 or 35 Millimeter, no playing around with a zoom. But, Jeff enjoys playing with color, like when the blue wall behind the parking meter is met by a little red from the curb. "Colors have always fascinated me. I used to take art classes in college but I am not a patient person." The choice of colors however is a vital part of composing the picture, and shows the beauty and harmony of ordinary things. Apart from that, as he points out, there is no message in his photography. "Some photographers have important messages to send to the world, political messages or social commentary. I photograph not to send a message but for my own therapy." Until now his work is known mainly in the US and Canada through exhibitions in Los Angeles, New York and Toronto. With the photos he shows online with seen.by Jeff Seltzer will now also find a public in Europe.

Regine Dee
SeenBy.com