I think it was Robert Rauschenberg (correct me, someone/anyone, if my attribution is wrong) who said it best - "It starts by YOU telling the picture what it will be -- in the end, THE PICTURE tells you what IT will be...".
I feel like I take that approach..... Not through any 'great design', or dogmatic adherence, ... it's just the way that 'comes naturally'.... and that is all I am interested in.
I collect negatives by taking myself, and simple camera, to places I love - the California coast, and desert - and start walking,
and .. "things happen".
I spend a lot of time with my proof sheets, and in a small room, under a dim red bulb. I'm obviously interested in things metaphysical - beyond that, it's up to the viewer to decide what's going on. ( If I haven't figured them out yet, (and I haven't, not really), why should I presume to explain them to anyone else?) Many of the pictures just seem to 'happen', because the individual negatives are 'looking' for each other. I'm just a chaperone, and a really loose one at that......
(...But those were always the best kind of parties, right? )