W2 Interests and Inspiration

This week's task is to find a piece of non-photographic work that has some kind of link to my own practice and research interests.

I can get inspired by film, news, stories, food, paintings, fashion and dance. But also simply by an object that I encounter, shapes, lines, colours, nature or by a movement that I see.

Some examples:

Fashion;

Viktor and Rolf design fashion with odd materials, Their dresses let me think of collages and have an improvised look and feel.

Victor and Rolf wearable art

My own images. I change clothing by adding alienating materials. The clothes I use for this is second-hand. In this case I told the model to move like an octopus .. As I related the series to fashion and the movements of animals, I was told during the discussions that it was reminiscent of sculptures. This was a revelation for me. I see what is meant and it makes me look at the series in a different way and I look at the series with this in mind again; make a selection on that.

Nature and food

Nature is what you see in your environment. That can be clock houses of an apple after making an apple pie. The forms are what prompted me to make this series.

Apple pie

Articles and text

In 2003 I made a weekly selfportrait inspired by an article in the newspaper.

I had the idea to do a one-year project to make a self-portrait every week. To prevent the image from being the same every week, I came up with the idea of ​​making the portrait a reaction to a news article. That way I had to work out a concept and arrange props before I could make the portrait. The series becomes more diverse and interesting this way.

Article about children smoking with their parents

Now that I think about it; my images are about to create, not only capture what already exists, but actively make a new reality. As a photographer you already do that by choosing a framework, position and composition and by choosing the moment. However, I often go a step further by making or adjusting the subject myself. I want to avoid creating a picture, spending time on it.

I am working simultaneously on 2 series. The one with the clothes described above and a series of landscapes below. It started when I had to give a presentation with the program Adobe Dimensions. I needed a wine bottle for that which I remembered was present in Photpshop 3D. There I exported it as a 3D object and I turned out to be able to use it in Dimensions. I had previously converted 2D photos to a 3D depth map with the idea to print them and use them as an etching plate (not yet succeeded but is still on the wish list). What if I would combine the depth map in Dimensions with the original photo? The depth map is not made at realistic depth and height differences but based on contrast and color differences in the photo. I can also adjust the curves and depth to your own taste and insight. I'm playing with that.

The result, with some of the outcomes, is that it shows a kind of destruction that can be found in today's society. Think about what the Brexit does and can do with Europe. The nature that is increasingly pushed back is visible in climate changes.

When discussing other disciplines, these 3D inspired images let people think of drones, mapping, google earth and painting.

Silence, meditation, mindfulness and sollitude came back several times on the forum and in this week's discussion. State of awerness of which I can absolutely find myself working towards results. Making clothes that I sometimes spend weeks in a row, for example to put 4000 watt-rods in a vest before I can take pictures is an example of this.

Happy Accidents?

to what extent is your idea based on happy accidents? I was asked this question several times at the art academy and now again during the discussion. I do not think it is only luck. Of course this is always a factor for which you have to open yourself. I like coincidences and I always try to be open and use them to my advantage, but they do not happen by chance. It is my method of experimenting hours, starting again, approaching the subject from different sides and reflecting on what happens that lead to the images.