The process
This body of work explores memory, absence, and relational form through digitally constructed photographic compositions. Each image begins with photographs rendered through vintage lenses chosen for their softness, distortion, falloff, and emotional texture.
We are inundated with images of people. Portraiture is constant and frictionless. After years working as a commercial photographer in New York City, I watched the number of photographers accelerate while craft became optional.
Because we see so many images every day, we recognize human form almost instantly. The eye completes the figure before we consciously register it.
Rather than adding another portrait to the stream, this work slows the act of looking.
The compositions lean fully into digital construction and abstraction, but they are built from intentionally captured light. That combination is deliberate. It is a refusal to abandon photographic discipline while simultaneously embracing and critiquing the evolution of the medium.
Each figure becomes a container for layered abstraction. Some works will remain legible. Others will test the limits of recognition, asking how little is required for presence to be felt, and how powerfully abstraction alone can move us.
Self example images
Self is the inaugural work in the series and serves as a proof of concept for the larger body of work. Presented here are the source portrait and select unedited layers used in its construction.
For this piece, I chose to reveal my own identity to make the process transparent. Future works will not disclose the subject.
Self is composed of fourteen individual images. Subsequent works will expand in scale and complexity as the series evolves.
Each piece is built around the outline of a human figure, which becomes a container for layered abstract photographs. Every layer is individually crafted, cropped, masked, and placed. Interior layers suggest the subject’s internal state; exterior layers reflect my relational response to the subject and their environment.
This work retains a clearly legible figure. Others will move toward abstraction, testing human perception and at which point the body dissolves.
Final works will be printed. Currently testing is underway to determine exact mediums.