Splat

Gregory Schaffer
Splat (Hamlin Park, Shoreline, WA)
2005

The photographer explains: For me the best kind of photograph is really a surprising revelation about the way the world is. Whether a picture is completely staged in-studio, rendered by a computer, or simply a snapshot from a family vacation, each possesses the power to tell a story. Those stories can be real or imaginative, truthful or not, depending on which side of the camera you stand.  Mostly cameras don't have any power and pictures don't tell lies.  Photography just sort of gets wrapped up in a strange conundrum of whatever somebody thinks it means to depict the world.

In discovering the Seattle area after living in Arizona, I spent much time photographing our parks.  They are strange, lovely places where the natural world intersects with urban life.  Parks are where we play games, have picnics and even gently remind ourselves that we are part of nature.  They're also places where kids have adventures and adults make secrets. We have birthday parties in one place while others smoke cigarettes or eat lunch in parked cars.  "Splat" is just another day at the park, a special day for a birthday boy while nothing special for someone else. -G.S.