Wavelife

• Photographer
  Pen Densham, United States

Waves are liquid sculptures. Constantly transforming. Never will
the exact same combination of ever exist. I feel privildged to
catch these secret moments and explore them as a meditative
experience. By uniting a refective permutations. It gives one the
possiblity of meditating on a mandala of the Ocean. Where all
life began - including our own.

Hawaii 4/2015

I'm a photographer and Oscar nominated filmmaker. My father, a cameraman, recruited me at 4 to ride an alligator in a theatrical short.  From that time, I yearned to cast spells with a camera. I quit school at 15, then took photos of the Rolling Stones and sold images to various periodicals. One article was titled “Go Shoot Yourself” with images of myself reflected in mirrored surfaces.  Nature, water, transparency and reflections have continued as themes in my work. I emigrated to North America at 19 and founded Trilogy Entertainment. And have produced and/or directed 16 major films and 200 TV shows like Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, Backdraft, Blown Away, Moll Flanders, The Twilight Zone and Outer Limits network revivals. 

I continued taking photographs. I had immersed myself in the correct methods. I created tens of thousands of images - but few seemed magical. I abandoned image-making and invested in a life as a filmmaker. 

It was seeing my teenage daughter's photographs that I grasped her self-realized, untrained image-making had a poetic unpredictability and innocent emotional power. Inspired, I started a new journey. Learning to follow intuition, to use the camera like a brush not a gun. I approach nature subjects which fascinate me, as sensory explorations. I will shoot wildly against the rules, way over-exposing, hand-holding long shutter speeds, mirroring images-- pushing beyond the conventional to explore the emotions and sensations of nature.  All my photographs are single, full-frame RAW exposures, totally un-cropped.  I sharpen, saturate, or adjust hues and contrast, to sculpt and discover what is in the frame. Nothing is cropped away or added by Photoshop.  I am the human algorithm that judges my discoveries.  I embrace their imperfections as well as their harmonies. When I choke up with emotion, I know the image has found me.

Awards As filmmaker. Over 80 international film awards, including two Oscar nominations. Also medal from the Queen for contributions to the Arts of Canada.