"photo-noir"
It's about capturing something, something that moves me, moves the viewer. I've found a particular fondness for high-contrst, low key images, and sharply defined shadows. I enjoy experimenting with darkroom techniques, working with light, film, and paper, sometimes following traditional paths and formulae, sometimes wandering down new paths. I find that the art, for me, is not just in taking the photographs, but is in creating the images... works that are sensual, evocative, and meaningful.
The equipment that I use is generally pretty old, and generally out of production for quite some time. I enjoy the simple versatility of it, the ability to completely control the light based on my observation. I like the idea of being an "analog photographer in a digital age". While i do use Photoshop frequently when designing graphics or preparing images for the web, i do not manipulate the photographs in my online galleries. The images and effects are created strictly in the darkroom, with film, emulsion, and paper.
While my primary medium is 35mm, I have also originated a darkroom technique using Polaroid 600 black and white instant film and traditional sheet film (see innovations). Through this process I can create a print that retains to some degree the original image, but the "skinned" image has a quality that is quite difficult to describe. In some ways, it resembles a solarization, with sharp "mackie- like" lines, but with no dark reversal in the positive print. Also, unlike the popular Polaroid transfers, or time-zero manipulations, I can make as many prints as I wish on photographic paper.
Most of the models that I shoot are friends of mine from the gothic/fetish club scene in the Boston, and Cambridge, Massachusetts area. The models are not "professionals", nor have they been either compensated or charged. These grrrls, and occasionally bois, all have very unique personal styles, and all of them possess a certain individual quality of beauty and spirituality that attracts me to them. I often feel that even while I am directing the poses, the sessions seem to take their own direction, with the photographs modeling themselves after the subject. I am eternally grateful to my muses.
I also feel very fortunate and deeply honored to have been able to exhibit my works in some of the locations that centralize this community. The local clubs and boutiques are as much a part of the people that move through them as conversely.
Creative nude photography often fires debate over it's validity, due only to it's subject matter. Arguably, the term "artistic" has often been coupled with the term "license" in an attempt to mask it's abuse. Truly this is a coin, with two sides. Even when the intentions of the artist are of the highest order, the potential to be denigrated still exists. The images of "photo noir" can be expressive, suggestive, sexy, and sometimes fetishistic, but still capture the natural beauty, sensitivity, and individualism of the subjects.
Here photography is an empathic medium where capturing the image is only part of the sacred act of creation. The final print is a balance of positive and negative space; the light, shadow, texture, and form that allow intuitive expressions to transcend the static image.
"photo-noir" is my vision for presenting and sharing my original art. As most of my works are black and white, so is "photo-noir". This combination of original and traditional methods and materials is intended to create a unique artistic expression while exploring a classic subject.
i do so hope that you enjoy it...
...addam...
Page 2 contains further statement and bio info.
Gallery concepts:
