Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Chosen Artist

I chose Mark Steinmetz as a relevant artist.
I found a few running trends and themes that we both implement, or that I'm currently working on emulating.
For instance this relates to a past series of mine titled "Drug Dealers".

"I think Winogrand put it as "photographs that state problems." I greatly admire the
work Cartier-Bresson did in his early twenties or that Atget did in the last years of his life - their images are rich, resonant, and not so readily interpreted. I'm not so sure my work has any single specific emotional effect - so much depends on the eyes of the beholder and where he or she might be at in their life or in their cultivation. The work is open to interpretation. I think my psyche is just wired a certain way and that I'm pretty much helpless to photograph things the way I do. It's my nature."- Steinmetz

In Drug Dealers, I showcased the subject of skateboarding.  However, I altered the typical approach to skateboard photography.  I had no interest in photographing the activity, but rather the events that surround it.  For the most part, unless you know that the images are depicting this sport, you would not immediately know the whole story.

With this in mind, I feel that some of Steinmetz's images are similar to my own.  I don't think my work so far is open to a vast amount of interpretation, but it at least is not obvious what is being depicted. 



Also, the last two lines reflect a bit of how I feel in regards to the practice of photography.  Most of my time spent using a still camera is from within a sort of helpless state.  The larger portion of all my recent work is heavily preplanned and researched.  With these more focused works, capturing with a camera, or paint, or w/e, it is not a choice.  It must be done, or it will consume my thoughts.  

"I've studied silent films and film noir so who knows what I've absorbed from all that and how it may have seeped into my work."- Steinmetz

I thought this was an interesting find.  I came to Purchase as a Cinema Studies major.  I always loved that I can view a film from an analytical stand point, then use that knowledge to better understand how I can compose with my own cameras.

Steinmetz often finds subjects who are emotionally or physically isolated from their surroundings or current environment.  I really appreciated this part of his approach, as I try to do the same.



I believe isolating a subject assists the viewer in understanding more about the subjects plight or mental state.  Recently, I've been attempting to be as minimalistic as I can within all my works.  Only photographing one subject within a frame, or only using two base colors with painting.

His project "South East" resonated with me the most, and is what caught my attention, sans the guy smoking a cigarette.  

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