15 Hoods, Redux

15 Hoods, ©2013

The premier of 15 Hoods went very well.  Despite the event coinciding with Yom Kippur, we seemed to have plenty of people in the studio and throughout the Bakehouse as well.  Both the photo and the installation drew favorable responses from visitors and three inquiries for possible future shows.  Not bad, I think.

The photo, shown above, is about 30x40 inches as currently displayed.  However, because each portrait is a distinct image ranging from 10 to 12 megapixels after cropping, the image should be indefinitely scalable.  Projection on the side of a building anyone?

The models in the photo range in age from toddler to middle age, male and female and yes, the guy second from the right in the lower row is me.  The idea of the piece was to render 15 nearly identical images in black & white, except the middle image which is clearly identifiable as a young African American male and is rendered in full color.  Essentially, each of us can look nefarious in a hoodie under the right conditions but society's attention is still drawn to the black male above all others.

Along with the piece, the installation also included out-takes and informal portraits of the models intended to show that they are really just people in hoods and that at heart we are all the same. Rounding out the installation is a series of images from the vigil for Trayvon Martin at the Torch of Friendship earlier this year.

The installation will remain on exhibit through October, 2013 in the Bakehouse Art Complex, Studio 3U and by private viewing by appointment.

San Sebastian

Dancer in front of Brickell Irish Pub, Festival de San Sebastian

La Fiesta de la Calle San Sebastian (The Festival of San Sebastian Street) in Puerto Rico made its way to the Brickell area of Miami.  Click here for the rest on Flickr.

High Dynamic Range and the Film Aesthetic

Downtown Miami at Sunset

Years ago when was still thought of as something different from "real" photography, people took to using Photoshop to get a technique called selective color to add or keep color in a part of a black and white image. I admit, I have a few images like that, just a few. This technique was used so much its become a cliche and fallen out of use, to a large extent.

I say this because trends come and go.  Years ago it was selective color, today it is High Dynamic Range.  HDR is essentially an attempt to use two or more photos of the same scene shot almost at the same time but at different exposure values in order to mimic the dynamic range of the human eye.  If done right, the results can be very pleasing.  If overdone, well, it looks like a graphic illustration.  While this isn't necessarily a bad thing, I just don't find it aesthetically attractive.  Perhaps that's a generational thing.

I came to photography with black & white film.  My aesthetic was formed from Life magazine compilation of images from the forties, fifties and sixties, almost all of which were black & white and, owing to the limited technologies, of restricted dynamic range.  Shadows and darkness are compositional elements to be used not problems to be overcome.  Sure, there's a place for HDR, if used sparingly.  Still, I really prefer the look of high contrast scenes.