new work from across the country

[FrankieTDouglas]

Earlier this summer, I set out on a road trip across America and Canada making staged, fictional photographs. Content varies, but in general the work deals with extremities, told through a smirking camera. In the past month, I've been able to start assembling them, in addition to a small collection made right before I left. All total, I have 28 new photographs from this year that will begin to make their way into the current body of work for exhibitions or etc. First stop, a solo exhibition next month in Maryland.

I'm curious what some initial thoughts might be about a few of them as I slowly export them from Photoshop. Opinions, things you see that I'm overlooking, etc?

 

[pukifloyd]

I like them. Especially the 2nd and the 6th picture.
Can you tell which lens and flash did you use? or did you use some other source for the light? thanks

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

I like them. Especially the 2nd and the 6th picture.
Can you tell which lens and flash did you use? or did you use some other source for the light? thanks

I have a Canon 5D with a 24-105L lens. For lighting, I have a studio in my trunk, consisting of four Alienbee heads, softboxes, umbrellas, grids, barn doors, flags, reflectors, and a beauty dish. Also, there was the sun in a few of the shots.

Camera and lens don't matter. Yes, you get better results with better gear, but you can still make anything you want with any camera and lens combination currently out there. Lighting is the key thing in photography (and good ideas).

 

[AlaskaMoose]

I have a Canon 5D with a 24-105L lens. For lighting, I have a studio in my trunk, consisting of four Alienbee heads, softboxes, umbrellas, grids, barn doors, flags, reflectors, and a beauty dish. Also, there was the sun in a few of the shots.

Camera and lens don't matter. Yes, you get better results with better gear, but you can still make anything you want with any camera and lens combination currently out there. Lighting is the key thing in photography (and good ideas).

That's so true!

Great photos, too I find 2, 6, and 7 most interesting, but the lighting is good on all.

 

[pukifloyd]

I have a Canon 5D with a 24-105L lens. For lighting, I have a studio in my trunk, consisting of four Alienbee heads, softboxes, umbrellas, grids, barn doors, flags, reflectors, and a beauty dish. Also, there was the sun in a few of the shots.

Camera and lens don't matter. Yes, you get better results with better gear, but you can still make anything you want with any camera and lens combination currently out there. Lighting is the key thing in photography (and good ideas).

Thanks for a quick reply. Thats a lot of gear! I know that lighting and composition are the most important thing in photography...I have some awesome photos that I clicked with my old cybershot...I think they are better than my new dslr...
I like your work. The lighting is superb on all of the photos.

 

[MattSepeta]

Nice!

I love all of them! My favorite is the 2nd to last though, your balance of ambient light in the background and the soft light on the subjects is perfect, I cant imagine it any better!

They are all so well done though, its hard to think of any critiques! Care to share the "stories" you are trying to tell for these? They are so unique and interesting, yet I cant seem to figure them out

Again, GREAT job, these are fantastic. Your style is like Dave Hill toned down to a more earthly look, but with a creeping sense of intrigue. I love it.

 

[Phrasikleia]

Yes, your lighting and processing are always terrific. I really enjoy the fictional, staged photos, and some of them really push those conceptual buttons for me. However, many I find quite inscrutable, as if I'm missing some kind of title or back story to frame them a bit. I really like allusive, open-ended photos, but some of yours perhaps aren't alluding enough. Do they have titles when you exhibit them?

For example, in the first one, I get that the male (you) is trying on a pair of jeans and that the female is throwing her arms back in exasperation, but beyond that, I don't get much of a message. The decor is feminine, so perhaps the guy is out of place, but so what? Perhaps it's just not provocative enough for me to want to interpret it beyond that. Or perhaps I'm missing the rest of a series it's in, or a leading title, or…?

The sixth and eighth photos have enough internal clues to suggest some possible readings; those two seem stronger conceptually. All of the photos are visual treats, but some just seem less resolved as bearers of meaning. Again, I don't expect a work of art to give me all of the answers, but when there are enough clues to reward some pondering, a photo holds greater interest.

At any rate, please consider me a fan. I always check out your new work with great interest and look forward to seeing more of it. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Designer Dale]

Earlier this summer, I set out on a road trip across America and Canada making staged, fictional photographs. Content varies, but in general the work deals with extremities, told through a smirking camera. In the past month, I've been able to start assembling them, in addition to a small collection made right before I left. All total, I have 28 new photographs from this year that will begin to make their way into the current body of work for exhibitions or etc. First stop, a solo exhibition next month in Maryland.

I'm curious what some initial thoughts might be about a few of them as I slowly export them from Photoshop. Opinions, things you see that I'm overlooking, etc?

...

I like the color scheme you have in this one. unusual and distinct tones. My take on the setting is stereotype roll reversal. The man is overly fashion/body conscious while the woman is casual and frustrated with the situation. (?)

Nice work on all of these, Andy. I'm interested in about how long each of these took to setup and shoot. You obviously put a lot of time into concept and have a great attention to detail. What is the average start-to-finish time on one of these projects? That being initial concept to final revision. I remember your tattoo parlor going through several revisions.

Dale

 

[Phrasikleia]

I like the color scheme you have in this one. unusual and distinct tones. My take on the setting is stereotype roll reversal. The man is overly fashion/body conscious while the woman is casual and frustrated with the situation. (?)

The idea of role reversal doesn't loom large for me here. The woman is still very fashionable and feminine (and far less "casual" than he is). If it is supposed to be about role reversal, then the message is really unclear: what about it? I don't think the idea is merely to suggest (by inversion) that women are overly image-conscious; that's too trite for AB. I'm sure he had something more whimsical in mind.

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

My ideas come from a variety of places. Sometimes I'll see a situation in real life that I'd like to expand upon in a photograph. I also do writing exercises that give me glimpses of how future images could play out. My dreams are typically vivid, so often I'll wake up and grab the notebook beside my bed and write down the dream as a section of prose. From these variety of sources, I'll go back and consider each section of the story snippets that I come up with and choose a specific moment inside the story to present in image form. So essentially, these photographs are story abstracts, a scene from a movie without proper context to introduce or conclude their narrative. Some give more hints than others. I'm most interested in the possibilities. Leaving the parameters open frees me from the commitment of deciding a conclusion, because the journey to has always been my favorite part. And because of this, the images never end. Just a new story begins when you're ready.

As for the clothing photo, my source material was a tale of awkwardness and fashion, and the roles men fit into these, especially if they're not, so, well fashion-conscious. While my work tends to have a humorous edge to it, some of the comedy can be quite dark. So being aware of how prior and different future images could play out, I wanted to make something concerning this idea that was a little lighter and vivid, to add to my opinion of some the silliness that goes on with fashion and my view as an outside spectator to it. I think of a collection of images as a song, with verses and choruses, a bridge, and etc. So when I make work, I try to fill that song structure with varying approaches to these narratives.

 

[Angelo95210]

I really love your work. Don't change anything !

 

[FrankieTDouglas]

Another, shot back in May