"Best known for detailed, grid-like portrait studies that betray a stark intimacy. These include 64 Portrait Studies, the Ledoyen Series and 48 Views, a series that included such Canadian notables as Northrop Frye, Irving Layton, Yousuf Karsh and Leonard Cohen." I enjoy looking at this pattern of people.
"By sharpening some elements and blurring the rest, the pictures in Pamela Bannos’ series Some Untitled Pictures reinterpret snapshots found at flea markets and on internet auctions. In changing the focus, this technique shifts the relationships within the frame by emphasizing people otherwise caught on the sidelines or in the background of a scene"-Museum of Contemporary Photography. I find this an interesting exercise. Its simply sharping your skills in photoshop but she went out and looked for images that would benefit from this instead of her own. I liked how it adds a new conversation to the photograph.
"In effect, the works are portraits that undermine traditional ideas of what a portrait represents. I wanted to comment on the changing status of photography in an age of digital manipulation, and somehow make a connection between ideas about fragmented identity and the ability in digital manipulation to take image fragments and unify them into an illusory whole"-Crossfield. His manipulated figures freak me out. That was my first thought when looking at his work. I wish i was better at creating a warp twisted world, mine always seem to be cheesy or just completely doesn't work.
"The inquisitive eye of the photographer plays an important part in the process: he sets out to catch a glimpse of his subject’s secret being and tries to understand what it is he sees." Kertens, influenced bye portraits of the Italian Renassiance, photographs his daughter Paula in a way to document her growing up. This wouldn't have worked with any girl. She is defiantly the ideal model for this. He has great control over lighting and the simple background help the focus stay on her expression. The whimsical use of different textiles for hats keeps the portraits light and fun. It will be interesting to see her age and the different paintings that will influence his choice of textiles and backgrounds.
"These are images of abandoned spaces — once alive, but now, in these precious hand-held testaments to memory, quiet and still, but never empty."(Jim Casper, Lens Culture) Was used to describe some of Hjelmen's other work. From what I saw, in his work you never see faces leaving the subject to be a universal embodiment of whom ever the viewer chooses. He uses all different formats of cameras from Holgas to 8x10, he mostly works with film. His photos caught my eye while in a fevery bed rest, they seemed to play with my imagination and leave me with haughnting dreams. Enjoy!
This has to be my new favorite portrait photographer. His lighting and the way he captures his subject is amazing. Most of his work is wisdom filled faces that haunt you and soothe you at the same time. PopPhoto.com said "His minimalist black-and-white portraits and landscapes, so devoid of pretense but bursting with humanity, seemed to leap off the wall and into my psyche." and i couldnt agree more!
