New Work, September 2013

2013 has proven to be a very busy year. With so many workshops and a lot of traveling, I haven't had many opportunities to get into a regular shooting schedule.  There's pro's and con's to this, but one advantage is feeling the freedom to get in the studio and just play.  Without any concrete directions or thoughts on where to begin, it really opens up the possibility to make new discoveries and wild breakthroughs.

This image is from a recent shoot where we were really starting from scratch, and where I really felt like I could take a lot of risks and see what developed.  The whole shoot was just fantastic, but I have to say I LOVE this image!

I feel like this image is really emotionally charged.  The figure here is really suffering, he's clearly in agony and we're witnessing it.  It's a very active quality of pain, and very striking.  There's a heroic quality to his pain, maybe something like martyrdom?

The red portions of the figure read to me as very raw, like recent wounds, while the dark area in his chest feels like an old wound of some sort.  The lighting and the colors in the shoulder and arm gie the impression of exposed tendons.  The fist coming through the chest could be something punching out, something reaching out from within or bursting through, but I also don't always see it a fist.  Perhaps it is an exposed organ, maybe the heart?

There is something about the overall quality of agony here that makes the lines around the wrist and upper arm appear to be chains of some sort.  It's almost as if he is bound in a dark chamber somewhere.  Or maybe this is an internal struggle- a psychic battle in some dark corner of the mind- and representative of something Karen Armstrong referred to as the labyrinth of the mind....

All that said, I find the face here just INCREDIBLE.  There is subtle but clear smears of red over his eyes, and to me it gives an immediate feeling of blindness.  Perhaps he is nearly blind, or blinded by blood.  Seeing his blindness adds to the overall tragedy of the suffering he is experiencing, bound and body falling apart...

So much of the color work I've done shooting with the mirrors has had classical religious qualities to them, specifically reminding me of Christian iconography.  This image, however, goes back to a more mythological feeling for me.  Prometheus, who is credited with giving man the gift of fire, was punished for doing so by being bound to a rock where every day an eagle would tear out and feed on his liver, only to have it grow back to be eaten again, day after day.  The bound quality of the figure in this image, the body falling apart, the raw flesh, the clear agony and obvious suffering, even the fist reading as an exposed organ, all remind me of the torture of Prometheus.

This is a well known sculpture of Prometheus by Nicolas-Sébastien Adam, housed at the Louvre in France:

 

As the fall season begins and I work on getting back to a regular shooting schedule, I'm looking forward to posting more images here and on the website, and making more unexpected and exciting connections like this one!

 

Maine Media Workshops 2013 Review

Last week ended another great week at the Maine Media Workshops.  As always, this was my favorite week of teaching throughout the year.  Maine is beautiful, the weather is gorgeous this time of year, the lobster is delicious, and the students the workshop attracts are always wonderful.

Our class!

This year, my class comprised of six motivated and responsive students who pushed me to push them to a new level, which I find brings out the best in me as a teacher.  We had very engaging and challenging discussions about originality, authentic seeing, and how to photograph such a popular and controversial subject as the human body.  We talked about the multitude of vulnerabilities for both the model and the photographer, and how to look beyond the "concept" of the figure to see it in a new way.  My students responded very quickly to the assignments, producing work that was outstanding and it was nothing short of impressive to see how far everyone had progressed in just one week.  

Every year at Maine Media, the week ends with a closing celebration featuring the best videos and slides of the work all of the classes produced.  I was so proud and delighted with my students work, and I'm happy to share some of the work featured in the Friday slide show here:

Mark Harris

Mark Harris

Amber Laurent

Amber Laurent

Charlie Lemay

Charlie Lemay

Charlie Lemay

Enrique Monasterio

Enrique Monasterio

Ruth Steinberg

Ruth Steinberg

Harry Umen

Harry Umen

This year was the 40th anniversary of the Maine Media Workshops, reminding me that I'd been there for the 20th and 30th as well.  Through all these years I look forward to this workshop with excitement and anticipation, and I can't wait to see what the 50th anniversary will bring!

Thanks to the folks at MMW for all the beautiful memories and for keeping me around year after year, and a very special thank you to my class!  You were all truly wonderful to work with and I can't wait to see more of your work in the future!

Nordic Light Festival Review

Back in December I wrote about being included in the Nordic Light International Festival of Photography in Kristiansund, Norway.  The festival was April 22 - 27th, and was SUCH A BLAST!  I'll say this for Norwegians- they sure do know how to party!

Leaving Baltimore to go to Norway in April was an interesting challenge.  Just as the weather was warming up here, the temps in Norway were topping out in the 50's.  Although you wouldn't know it from the photo of Kristiansund above, there was also occasional rain, sleet, and snow to boot. We had come prepared, packing winter coats and cold weather gear, but arrived to find that our suitcases had (of course) not made it.

Patricia and I with Marian, decked out in our Nordic winter gear!

Fortunately, our host Marianne Andersen was prepared, and was so gracious to provide us with coats, scarves, warm socks and shoes.  We were promptly taken care of, and felt so warm and welcome despite the chilly weather.

The festival featured a slew of excellent and talented photographers, including Alex Webb, Chris Rainier, Steve McCurry, Leysis Quesada, Nelson Ramirez De Arellano, and Pedro Abascal.  It was exciting to meet so many amazing photographers from around the world and hear them talk about their work and processes.  It made for a truly invigorating and inspiring atmosphere.  The festival included 15 impressive exhibitions, great panel discussions, and even photography trivia at night in the local bar!


My visit to the festival included a presentation where I had the opportunity to discuss my work and the creative process, and it could not have been more well received.  Everyone seemed to really respond to my images, and I was flattered to have the talk end with a standing ovation!

In addition to the wonderful experience we had at the festival, the Norwegian landscape was breathtaking.  Norway is known for it's beautiful fjords- long, deep inlets of the sea formed by glacial activity between high cliffs.  We managed to take a trip outside of Kristiansund to see some and they were stunning.  The water there is an amazing shade of blue and the Norwegian countryside was simply gorgeous.

The trip to Norway was one I will never forget.  I have had a number of fortunate opportunities to travel to various workshops in the past year or so, and it has been a real privilege being able to meet so many people from around the world who share a passion for photography.  Again and again I have been amazed at the power visual language has to transcend cultural differences.  The potential for connecting to other human beings on real, deep, and meaningful levels through the medium of photography is astounding, and never ceases to astound me.  With more workshops just around the corner, I can hardly wait to see what lies ahead... 

Union of Arab Photographers Workshop

Last week, I had the pleasure of teaching a three day workshop for the Union of Arab Photographers in Sharjah, one of the United Arab Emirates.  The request from the UAP came up quickly and was unplanned, but I jumped at the opportunity to travel and teach in the Middle East.  Having seen the Lynda course I recently published with Ben Long, they were interested in hosting a class on composition. 

This was such an exciting trip and I found it fascinating to be in a culture so different from my own but sharing the same passion for photography.  I found the UAE to be very enthusiastic about photography, to really value communication, and felt like it was a deeply appreciated medium.  

All of the people I met with were incredibly warm, welcoming, and hospitable.  The students I worked with were extraordinary- all were very enthusiastic, open, and eager to learn.  Photography is such an important language, one that transcends cultural differences and communicates in rich, profound ways.  It was a wonderful experience and I hope I have the opportunity to visit again some day!

I'm hoping to receive some samples of students work to post here within the next couple weeks...

Our class!

  

Nordic Light: International Festival of Photography

I'm thrilled to announce that I've been invited to exhibit my work in the Nordic Light International Festival of Photography in Kristiansund, Norway!

Established in 2006, the festival is one of the biggest and most important photography events in Europe, and attracts re-knowned photographers from all over the world.  I will be exhibiting 25 photos, both new work as well as old, between April 23 - May 5, 2013.  I'll also be participating in portfolio reviews and be giving a lecture at some point during that time frame, although the exact date has not yet been set- I'll keep you posted!

After the festival, several images will be be catalogued in the Nordic Light International Centre for Photography's "House of Photography", as part of a collective exhibition called "Legends of Honour".

This should be a very exciting festival and I'm honored to be included in their permanent collection!

New work on the website

Just added a handful of new images to the portfolio section of the website!

Working with deeper red gels on one of the models and a new mirror, the most recent work has taken on a disturbing, almost more violent feel.  It's been fascinating to me to see the progression of this work to this point.  It hasn't been my intention to make unsettling images by any means.  The materials, lighting, and visual approach just came together to bring out all of these details that amount to this disquieting feeling.

Continuing with this work, I've been reminded of some of the earlier work I've done with the mirrors- the darker images in particular:

 

Thinking about this has made me go back and find connections in the current body of work with images I produced as far back as 20 years ago....

-CLICK THE JUMP BELOW FOR MORE- 

Connections, Resemblances, and Associations

Last week, I gave a lecture and presentation on my work as a guest at The Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles. The slide talk went very well, and the audience was wonderful.

Every time I give a slide presentation of my portfolio, I try to update it to include my latest work. Not only does it keep the talk fresh and up to date, but it gives me the opportunity to reinterpret some of the older images and sometimes see things in a new context.  Looking at some of the older images with a broader and more developed understanding of the work can provide new insights on what I've done in the past. In preparing for my talk at The Annenberg, I did something I've been meaning to do for a long time...

When I made the image I call "Dead Silences", I was in my second year of grad school. In a critique with 8 fellow students and the professor, one student mentioned that it reminded them of a "Janus" face. Rather than admit that I had never heard of "Janus" before, I nodded in agreement with most of the other students who seemed to understand what this statement meant. I did however research it afterwards, and was surprised at just how accurate this observation was:

According to Wikipedia- "In ancient Roman religion and mythology, Janus is the god of beginnings and transitions, thence also of gates, doors, doorways, endings and time. He is usually a two-faced god since he looks to the future and the past."

The resemblance of Janus in this image still fascinates me to this day, and was only the first of several instances in which one of my images resonated with an unintentional reference.

I had been thinking about this a lot since seeing the connection between one of my recent images and Masaccio's "The Expulsion from the Garden of Eden".  For the slide talk at The Annenberg, I thought it might be fun to illustrate some of the other inadvertent analogies that have appeared in some of my work...

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