Senior Show

things remembered:

a place, time, thing or dream.

I define myself primarily as a photographer, and secondarily as an artist. For me the term ‘artist’ is a general title that applies to more then one field in art. The title photographer is very specific in defining what the person is 

doing, and in this case, what I am doing. Photographs are very specific, they capture a specific moment in time, and a specific subject.

            The world of photography is continually expanding as technology continues to develop and we become more advanced in this ‘digital age’. As a photographer, I find myself pushed forward into this digital world, and, at the same time, I feel an increased need to return to more traditional methods.

            It is with all this in mind, that I started to develop this project. My past work has been what I would easily classify as “Straight Photography”. I feel that a good image should be what is on the negative, and should not be contingent on what you do in the dark room. I like to capture on film only what I intend to print. All of which is similar to the work of photographers Edward Weston, Brett Weston, Walker Evans, and the later work of Imogen Cunningham who has been my inspiration in the past.

            I have been raised to believe that the best way to learn is to push yourself far enough into something that is new, it is through these new experiences that we are best able to learn. In this series, I am pushing myself in a direction that I have not gone before, and at the same time keeping my basic principles in place.

            It is the early work of Imogen Cunningham and a few other photographers who worked in a pictorialist style that helped to inspire this series. There is a quality to her work that gives me a sense of who she was as a person. The feeling of “Time” seems to be a theme throughout the overall body of work that she produced; there is the feeling that you are almost there in the moment with her work. This is partly because of the pictoralist style in which she was working with at the time. The other part is her choices in subject matter and framing, in which there is a slight unreal effect to the image that leads to the feeling of viewing a memory or a dream-like state.

            I wanted to do something that had the ability to achieve a similar effect; I turned to special effects photography and specifically Infrared film. Through the use of Infrared film I am able to keep my practice of printing what is on the negative at full frame, and not relying on darkroom effects to get the results I want. In the case of this film, which is more sensitive to a broader region of the light spectrum then conventional film and has a noticeable grain, it gives a quality that is not obtainable through other methods.

            The other key element to this series is the subject matter. In this case, with the se of this film, which has a greater impact on the outcome, you have to be more focused with what the subject is. You have to take into account how light interacts with the subject, as well as what the subject is made of. You have to take into account the way that film will show that same light when printed. And you have to take into account that the grain will be much more of a visual element in the image. All of these aspects combine to produce something that gives a visual sense of a things remembered: a place, time, thing or dream.

            For me, past and memories are a very important aspect of my life. Photography allows me to transition my memories into something that can be viewed for years, when that memory is no longer as clear. At the same time, these serve the dual duties of reminding not only me but also remind others of their past and their memories.