About | Phocuspocus Arts

Simon Goodman of Phocuspocus Arts

Introduction

Simon’s interest in photography goes back to his student days. When living in the town of Lewes, UK, in the early 2000s, he took some photography courses, in mainly black and white photography, and started to exhibit his images, but without much success. Only in the last few years has he seriously restarted pursuing his ideas, resulting in some images being accepted by the Lupine Review and an entry sold at the 2025 Anonymous exhibition. More recently a print was included in the “Whistler Blackcomb 60th Anniversary Exhibition”, and also two more in the recently published Sea to Sky Journal.

Inspiration

The photographers who have inspired Simon most have been, from the very start, Ansel Adams, whose landscapes have never been bettered, and Henri Cartier-Bresson, the master of capturing the ‘decisive moment’. Simon has always tried to retain the discipline required in the earlier days of photography, when instant examination of your shot was impossible. You had to use a viewfinder to carefully frame the scene. It was always easier to crop at this stage, especially if you were not in full control of the printing process, or you were using colour. It is hard to imagine having a window of only 24 or 36 images, before changing your film. Even if you had your own darkroom, it was a long process, before you were able to see your results. Today’s photographers, both amateur and professional, would have difficulty adjusting to such primitive conditions.

62 second exposure on the Peak to Peak Gondola, Whistler

Technical

Unique among visual artists, photographers use the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum – light – both as inspiration and input. For all the advances in photography, it is all too easy to be blinded by technological progress without examining the image contents. If photography can be defined as the production of an image by the exposure of a light-sensitive surface to a controlled amount of light rays, not that much has changed. Then, as now, the results have been subject to manipulation, whether that is dodging and burning a black-and-white print, to any number of options using computer software. However, photographers are still shackled to using the same input, albeit in more sophisticated, or complicated, ways.

Two Lighthouses and Downs: Beachy Head, UK

Obelisk #8 in bus window, Gateway Loop, Whistler

Methodology

Simon works on developing some creative imagery, using a number of styles. Instead of mimicking what the eye can see by capturing an instantaneous snapshot, he likes to collect light energy over short periods of time. That time can be controlled using a panoramic shot, or by a neutral density filter, blocking a specific percentage of light from entering the camera lens. Thus he thinks of taking a photograph as gathering the light rays that are out there, but not in a way processed by our brains. This often has surprising results, which can be used to produce striking images. Black & white photographs are a great example of capturing what we do not see – in fact, the camera always lies, and we should use that to our advantage.