BIG SKY

I love storms

Not because of the damage they can cause.

I love the anticipation.

The moment when the air changes.

The light becomes different.

Everything familiar suddenly feels uncertain.

When I photographed the Kansas City skyline, the sky was actually a plain blue sky.

Technically, it was a nice photograph.

Emotionally...

it wasn't saying anything.

So I came home and started searching through years of cloud photographs.

One by one.

Nothing felt right.

I wasn't looking for dramatic clouds.

I was looking for a feeling.

Then I found a sky that carried the emotion I remembered.

The city remained soft and slightly out of focus. I wanted it to be recognizable... but vulnerable.

As I continued working, I added layers of texture. They weren't there to make the image look old or distressed. They were there to let the mystery emerge.

Suddenly, the photograph began to change.

The city looked as though it was waiting.

It looked vulnerable.

It looked urgent.

It made the city look urgent for some kind of help.

That's the moment I knew I had found the photograph I was trying to create.

I rarely set out to document a place exactly as it looked.

I'm much more interested in creating the way it felt.

Sometimes the camera records what we see.

Sometimes...

it helps us remember what we felt.

— Michael Regnier

Thank you for spending a few moments in the studio.