36 Views

Born from a fascination with topographical maps, and how they represent a 3-dimensional form using a 2-dimensional code, I plan to create an elevated topographical map. Using simple materials and tools, I am going to build up a scale model/paper sculpture of a prominent mountain peak found in the Wasatch mountain range in Utah. I am then going to design and build an experimental pinhole camera system to photograph the sculpture. I will make 36 photographs from symmetrically positioned locations around the model, from which I will print 36 images using the historical process of copperplate photogravure.  These simulated landscapes will exist in reference to the actual landform. Though filtered through the soft aesthetics of experimental photography, and the odd syntax of photomechanical printing, I anticipate that the images will embody a surreal quality. While I am interested in creating a visual aesthetic for each image, each print (and the project as a whole) should call in to question the issues surrounding landscape as a form of art, the environmental impact of development, and accessibility. 

So far, I have tested my math, calculating the scale of the topographical map (1/2400) to find out the scaled down elevation of each topographical line on the map. I built a small portion of the mountain in SketchUp, after which I asked a colleague to print the mountain on his 3-d printer.

Accretions

I have long been fascinated by the old wads of gum stuck to the cement and have been meaning to photograph each interesting accretion from an oblique angle. As I walk around the campus where I work, encountering hundreds, if not thousands of the cracked micro-mounds, I can't help but wonder about the history of each incident, as if each discarded, stale piece of gum was thrust upon the cement like a meteor striking the earth from the heavens above, except instead of leaving an impact crater, subtracting from the landscape, the gum becomes an addition, gradually collecting dirt and other matter, hardening in the sun and freezing in the rain. I used two cameras to create this series, one that I had built for another purpose only to discover that it worked really well for this series, and another I built specifically for this series. One has a very wide angle while the other works almost like a telephoto. 

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Recent Gum Bichromate Prints, 2013 and 2014. 

Images from the Tetrahedron Camera. Collotypes on Chine Colle.

Pinhole Cameras

Geodesic Dome Camera. First constructed in 2005, this is an ongoing project. The dome comprises 26 cameras, each with four, five, or six exposures, culminating in 130 photographic marks. I use these marks in compositions that reflect the structure of the dome. The diameter of the dome is 9' and it stands 4.5' tall.

Introverted Simultaneous Panorama Camera (InSimPanCam). 2010. This camera exposes 11 images on a roll of 120 mm film, all angled toward the center of the camera.

Extroverted Simultaneous Panorama Camera (ExSimPanCam). 2009. This camera exposes 12 images on a 12 exposure roll of 35 mm film.

Cube Camera. 2008. One of my most used cameras mainly because of it's compact size, the cube camera has six chambers described by connecting the eight outer corners of the cube with the interior center point of the cube (called the "central angle" in geometry). The six corresponding film planes are folded, and exposed in three dimension which then distort when flattened and printed.

Icosahedron Camera. 2007. The Icosahedron camera is made from 20 tetrahedrons. The film plane of each tetrahedron is folded and exposed in three dimensions, then flattened, creating distortions in printing.

Stellated Dodecahedron Camera v. 2. 2012. This camera has twelve pentagonal film planes, each receiving five exposures. The original version of this camera was too small, making exposure unpredictable and unforgiving.

InSimPanCam v. 2. 2011. Forty-two exposures on a 36 exposure roll of 35 mm film. I typically use this camera to make stop frame animations of found vertebrae of dead animals.

Octahedron Camera. 2006. Eight exposures on eight truncated equilateral triangles.

Tetrahedron Camera. 2012. Three folded film planes with two exposures each.

Decahedron Camera (open). 2013. One hexagon folded into a dimensional pentagonal film plane. Five exposures. 

Extended Cube Camera version 2. 2013. Six square film planes.

Extroverted Simultaneous Panorama Camera 2 (ExSimPanCam2). 2013. Three 4x5" films. 

Dome Series 5. Collotypes.

 

 

 

 

 

This is a series of collotypes I printed in 2011. All of the imagery comes from one exposures session of the Geodesic Dome camera. Rather than compose all 130 exposures into one print, I composed in a more intuitive manner. Still, all of the exposures are in proximity one to another as they would have been exposed on the dome.