I covered my feet with acrylic paint, walked around on a piece of paper, then I made this photograph… I actually did this because I am working on another photograph where I need a long line of footprints. However, when I took a closer look at the way the paint had spread on the paper, I had to take a close up picture… It is funny how when sometimes you are simply working towards a goal you encounter useful surprises along the way. Perhaps I will need to paint my feet more often.
During all of 2017 I spent most of my “photography” time in the studio with lights. I plan to continue this studio work through 2018 until I feel like the series is complete, however I had realized that I am spending hardly any time taking my camera out and making regular pictures… The other day I dropped some work off at a gallery in Scranton and decided to take my new camera and lens out for a stroll. Cities are great because of all the decay and strange mix of nature and cement. During my shoot I realized how I seem to always shoot with a formal composition, very straight and flat, like that of a Wes Anderson movie. I am going to take my camera out of the studio more often now.
I got a new camera! I decided to upgrade my main dSLR. I chose the Nikon D610 because it is so similar to what I am used to shooting with, has a 24 megapixel full frame sensor, and I already have a lot of accessories for Nikon that will be compatible. Although I was really interested in some mirror-less options like Fujifilm (mostly due to smaller size) they just didn’t seem to be the best option for my work, especially with studio lighting… On top of that I got a new all-in-one FX lens that will be my main glass while I am on the go. Time to make some new work!
I tied a bunch of cut pieces of rope together and experimented with them. Nothing interesting was happening until I realized how organic they appeared. I began pinning the rope onto my studio wall, twisting and pulling one piece around the other. Reaching my arm into the scene, I made this photograph, which is actually rotated 180 degrees… I felt it was like a gift offering, and a quote from Terrance McKenna came to mind: “…these things come running forward, and what they are doing with this visible language that they create is they are making gifts! They are making gifts for you…”