Photo Image Making

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https://hdl.handle.net/10217/180172

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Open Access
Owen Crocker: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Crocker, Owen, artist
The artist's statement: I am a Colorado based Photographer and Graphic Designer currently in the process of graduating from Colorado State University with a Bachelors of Fine Arts with a concentration in Photo Image Making. I am interested in both expressive abstract photography and studio portraiture. In this body of work I aimed to use a combination of studio portrait photography and abstract photographic composites to portray personal expression. I interviewed the subject of each portrait to find something that is meaningful to them personally and created an abstract based off of that interview. Each abstract has a concept it is trying to express and some of them even depict an object that is personally meaningful to the subject of the portrait above.
Open Access
Tenjing Sherpa: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Sherpa, Tenjing, artist
The artist's statement: My work focuses primarily on analog photography and its experimental potential. I've used film cameras for over three years and have learned many different concepts and ideas that can be used with this medium. I've seen other artists, such as Jerry Uelsmann, who used double exposures to inspire me to dive into experimental printing processes. Creating many different physical prints, I also learned from other photographers, such as Tom Evans and Barbara Murray, to experiment with the film's color composition to create and manipulate the colors. Using these techniques, I was able to make a series that was based on my childhood life. Exploring first the color composition of bright colors abstracting the image, then burning the individual prints with fire to create this burning memory that's stained onto the print and frame.
Open Access
Grace Williams: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Williams, Grace, artist
The artist's statement: This body of work is a collection of images that aim to show how societal stereotypes for women affect the female mind. This work is a journey through the experiences of different women and their stereotypes. The journey follows through the stereotype, how that stereotype affects them personally, and then finally how they see themselves. The images in the body were made to break the molds that have been set by society on women and show how much labels effect the human psyche. Through my work I want people, particularly women to see that they are more than just the label that they were given by society. The inspiration for this project came from personal experiences and struggles as a woman. As a woman I have battled with my self-image most of my life. This battle may not always be about appearance but also about who I am. As a woman there is this imposed list of labels or stereotypes that society has made for us. You must fit the mold sort of speck to be seen as a 'perfect' woman. These labels could be being a child-bearer, submissive, or wife. Whatever the label or mold may be, each one affects women and how we see ourselves. It changes how women present themselves and how we behave in our world. These labels and how they affect women are the main inspiration for this body of work. However, that is only half of the story. The other inspiration for this project is the destruction of these labels and the construction of our true selves. Through my images I want to show woman that being beautiful is to be yourself. These images were made using a mixture of analog film techniques, physical manipulation, and digital manipulation. All images shot for this body of work were shot on 120mm Ilford Hp5 Plus Black and white film. The camera used was a Pentax 6 x 7 with a 1-20m lens. After the shoot the film was developed and scanned for archival purposes. Then the images were physically manipulated. I would individually paint the B/W negatives with acrylic paint and later burn a selection of them. From there the now 'destroyed' negatives were scanned and digitally manipulated. The first and most important step of digital manipulation was to use an AI filter to turn the B/W image to a Color image. After this filter was applied, I could further edit the images to my liking. Finally, the images were printed on a printable fabric and stretched over a wood frame. This project has not only been one of self-discovery but also a journey of healing. Through my work I also got to learn about what it feels like to be other women and hear their stories. In learning these amazing women's stories, I learned what the definition of strength and perseverance is. This project has helped me stitch together what it means to be me. In doing this project I have found out what being an artist means to me. I have found my voice. I also know how I want to use my voice. I want to use my voice to make the unheard heard. To show the world the deeper levels of humanity.
Open Access
Rocio Contreras: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Contreras, Rocio, artist
The artist's statement: The human experience is a complex and unique experience full of ebbs and flows that is centralized on the individual. Sharing these individual perspectives is what has proven to me to be one of the most crucial parts of humanity. Without our experiences, what are we? Through my time I have found many avenues of expressing my experiences and viewpoints. Whether that is through poetry, performing or visual art, self expression has been a cornerstone in the creation of my work. I am extremely passionate in photography as it has a remarkable ability to encapsulate a version of reality while providing the viewer with a space to create their own narrative. My emphasis in portrait photography is directly tied to my need for interaction with different perspectives. The DSLR camera with a 50mm lens is my tool of choice as it provides a comfortable setting for my subject without losing the closeness and intimacy in my photographs. Digital printing is my preferred avenue as it provides a higher localized attention to detail, allowing me to be able to accommodate my subject's specific needs. My work is a reflection of my life as it follows themes of immigration, queerness, activism, and loss. As part of my thesis I looked into the concept of identity and growth within the LGBTIA+ community. Many times we are put into categories used to describe how palatable we are to other people. "Duality" talks about the presence of both aspects of a personality without the need to pick one over the other. We are both.
Open Access
Grace Baldwin: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Baldwin, Grace, artist
The artist's statement: I've been making photographs since I was in elementary school, capturing memories of my friends, the things we did together, and the places we went. I ended up being an honorary member of the yearbook in middle school because I took hundreds of pictures of the people around me, and joined the yearbook officially in high school so that my endless photo-taking of my friends wouldn't just be for selfish reasons. My love for taking photographs of people only grew when I tried focusing with an artistic lens, and I started seeing the beauty in every part of a person. With the use of double exposure, someone’s face could be mixed with flowers, with the right lens I could capture the intricacies of an iris and the galaxy it contains; and I could show people how I saw them. That's my biggest motivator: to capture the beauty I see in others and have them see it too. My most recent body of work focuses on the body. All participants are asked, "What's your favorite feature on your body, and what's a feature on your body that you think is really interesting?" Often, we focus on the things we don't like about our bodies, but they're all so beautiful. Every body is so incredibly unique, and yet we are all the same. Some of the elements I've captured are rotting teeth, a stray piece of gravel embedded in a knee, the curve of a back, the most gorgeous eyes I've ever seen, and the unique growth pattern of an eyebrow. While I photograph plenty of other subjects besides people in my day-to-day life, people mean so much to me and are so complex that I don't think I'll ever have my fill of capturing the beauty of them. People say no two snowflakes are the same, and that goes for people too. The beauty is: though different, we're all made of stardust and water.
Open Access
Logan Causey: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2023) Causey, Logan, artist
The artist's statement: Carl Jung is a psychoanalyst whose ideas and writings primarily deal with the symbology of dreams, the unconscious, and using both to learn more about oneself; Jung's notions have strongly impacted my approach to image-making. Similar to psychoanalysis, my work centers around the theme of exploration and uncovering the hidden, which is typically dismissed or forgotten about. My images are strongly connected to domestic spaces that are not seen as having conventional appeal or beauty, they are off the beaten path and must be deliberately pursued to be found. Analog image-capture is an extremely significant aspect of my work as it emphasizes process and encourages a multi-layered methodology when making photographs, this extra focus on process is significant to my work as it is linked to Carl Jung's process of individuation.
Open Access
Richardson Trinity: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Richardson, Trinity P., artist
The artist's statement: Photography has always been an interest of mine. In middle school I used my phone to take pictures of pretty flowers, the results were not necessarily good, but it was the process that I loved and the feeling of capturing a single moment in time that can’t be recreated, it gave me a feeling of satisfaction and excitement. I believe it is what I am meant to do. My work means the world to me, while I started off taking pictures of things I thought were pretty, like flowers and buildings, I am at a place now where I want to document the unseeable. I am interested in entering the minds of the viewers through my photographs. I take photographs of interior spaces in a way to show the personality of the inhabitant can be seen without them actually there. I photograph memory-like scenes in hopes to remind others of their own memories, even though they're just looking at mine. A lot of my work comes from a place of wanting to connect with other people through memories and personalities. I am interested in the social aspects of society and like experimenting with that. My process always begins with an idea and completely changes by the end. Through multiple sessions of photographing for a series, my idea changes throughout and I end up with a different outcome. This is great for me though because it gives me new ideas to work with all the time. My latest body of work is inspired by the personal spaces of an individual and what it can say about their personality. A lot can be said about a person through the way they decorate their home.
Open Access
Dillon King: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) King, Dillon, artist
The artist's statement: My name is Dillon King and I'm a photographer. My focus is based around the narrative or the storytelling ability an image has. I use a combination of elements including color and complex composition to assist the viewer in finding an emotive response. A few artists I look towards are Nan Goldin, Gordon Parks, Gregory Crewdson, Robert Capa, and Eddie Adams for their ability to show stories. With the age of social media, we are fed images over and over again that are shallow in both focus and meaning. While a shallow focus, used properly, has the ability to show us the depths of emotion, I chose to primarily use a wider range of focus to bring in more elements for storytelling. If the image contains a human figure, we are given more potential narrative with every new object we can see clearly. Within an image that doesn't contain a human figure, I aim to give enough information for deduction of the objects interplay within the frame. I choose to primarily use digital image capturing as it gives more potential for color. Color, a primary focus of my artistic technique, has a profound ability to direct a story due to its association with emotion. Digital gives me more manipulatable information to begin with. My focus is based around the storytelling ability an image has. I use a combination of elements including color and complex composition to assist the viewer in finding an emotive response, leading the audience to fabricate a story for themselves. Each image is intentionally unrelated for this reason.
Open Access
Bailey Douglass: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Douglass, Bailey, artist
The artist's statement: Inner Dialogue, a collection of tableaux collages that speak to the different ways we mentally process situations and conflict. For me, there are four distinct parts that are in constant inner conflict that I wanted to expose. The four characters in this series are: 1. The Truest Form, my main consciousness. The actions of all the characters directly affect her. 2. A People Pleaser: She wears a red wig to emphasize her need for attention. 3. The Parent: I keep her in my own hair but dress her in blue, a color I associate with nurturing. The parent is complex, trying to keep me safe, making sure everything is as it should be. 4. Depression: I dress her in a black blunt wig with bangs to show her tendency to hide and to emphasize her lack of vibrancy. I play all four of these characters in all my pieces. I photograph them separately and then collage them together later in photoshop to create these narratives. Creating a physical manifestation of these conversations allows me to better understand how I respond to different scenarios. It also makes it easier to recognize when the conversations become toxic or problematic. It has given me the power to slowly change and reframe my thinking. Slowly transferring the power from my characters to the Truest Form. All people engage in Inner Dialogues. Knowing this, we can feel less alone.
Open Access
Gabriele Baumann: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Baumann, Gabriele, artist
The artist's statement: "A picture is worth a thousand words" has always been an inspiration for me and my work. Through my work, I have shown different portrayals of the human being and tried to combine materialistic things and the surrounding environment in these images. I used my digital camera, some lighting techniques as well as creating new poses and angles to capture the image I was hoping for. There is no right or wrong answer to my work, it's whatever the audience wants it to be.
Open Access
Kelty Baynham: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Baynham, Kelty, artist
The artist's statement: There is something intriguing about capturing what is in front of you in a way that your eyes cannot; seeing a moment in time that is only being caught by a frame. Ever since I have owned a camera, I have been drawn to the moments around me, really the people in the moments around me. People have always been the inspiration that drives me to photograph. They are the subjects of my photos, it's never about me behind the camera, it's them. They are the beginning, middle and end of my photographs, and they make the image into the product. I am the one behind the camera that can translate who they are into something other people can see, or who they want others to see them as. In my view, people are the most intriguing and unique things in life, and there is not one like the other. This gives me room to get to know someone and explore through the photos I take of them and with that show them how they are seen in whatever capacity that might be. When I can capture someone in a moment or space that creates a story about who they are or what they want to communicate then I feel like I have played my role as a photographer. There is an importance of pointing a camera at someone and really letting the stillness show everything about that person through one image. The story might be beautiful, and it might be something that is not, but people are always worth understanding and my photographs aim to do so.
Open Access
Maxwell Weber: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Weber, Maxwell, artist
The artist's statement: In my photographic practice, I primarily focus on the human-altered aspects of the western American landscape. Documenting the results, byproducts and repercussions of the United States manifesting its destiny across the west. I find the built environments to be reflective of the cultures that create them. I am also interested in the economic and political aspects of the environments and subjects that I photograph. Specifically I am focusing on a current trend in architecture which began with "five over one" apartment buildings. They are typically multifamily housing units with sleek and repetitious exteriors, and often leave the ground floor as commercial space. This trend is largely driven by economics as these buildings are very cost effective to construct. The buildings can be luxury, low-income, or student housing, but there is no way to tell which it is from the outside. I photograph these buildings with a 4x5 field camera using the wet plate collodion process. The wet plate collodion process, sometimes known as tintype, is a 19th century photographic process which predates the silver-gelatin process, the basis of modern film. In the modern version of this process, a glass or aluminum plate is coated with collodion, which becomes the substrate that holds the image. When the coated plate is submerged in a silver nitrate bath, it becomes sensitive to light and an image can be made on it. The plate is only sensitive to light while it is wet and therefore must be developed before it dries. I use this historic and slightly dangerous method of making photographs both because of the way the resulting images look and to be fully connected to the photographic process. While digital manipulations can evoke or mimic wet plate, nothing looks like a wet plate photograph. I am using the wet plate collodion process to contrast 21st century architectural trends with 19th century photographic technology. I find “five over one” buildings to be stylistically, spiritually and physically hollow. Conversely, I find wet plate collodion images to be stylistically, spiritually and physically rich. It is interesting looking at soulless buildings through the filter of a very soulful process. The bland repetition of the architectural forms are echoed and contrasted by the unique mark making of wet plate.
Open Access
Irie Sauceda-Lindsey: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Sauceda-Lindsey, Irie, artist
The artist's statement: This isn't really about porches, or porch decoration, or even the homes that I stop to admire as I casually stroll along the sidewalks of the neighborhood. What my photos are really about is the presence of human bodies and the individuality of said humans. Every house I've encountered is different. Of course, usually because of the change in design, paint color, era of each house. But what makes one house truly distinct from another is the people living in it. The porch is an extension of one’s home and personality, saying a lot more about the resident than you might think. My photos act as portraits of the individuals inside these homes, capturing each of their uniqueness through the lens of the house porch. My photography explores the hidden or unacknowledged allure in the many things we encounter throughout our days. Constantly searching for and taking note of anything that gives me a sense of pleasure is the most important part of my photo-making process. Becoming hyper aware of these small bits of life and recognizing their worth is what pushes me to grow and gain a passion for my artistry even more. I invite my viewers into my photos, to take a moment and appreciate the beauty in the simplest to the most complex of things.
Open Access
Jordan Bachus: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2022) Bachus, Jordan, artist
The artist's statement: I was born and raised in the church and starting at a very young age girls are taught the idea of modesty and that our bodies are inappropriate. Growing up this idea was shoved into my brain and it was really hurtful. I saw my body as something that wasn’t beautiful and was almost a thing about myself to be ashamed of. Trying to cover myself up in order to show I truly followed what I was taught. As I grew up I learned more that my body was my own and that it was made in a beautiful way. However I choose to glorify my body is my own choice and not one to be told to me. I wanted to show this idea through this series. Showing the body as a beautiful thing, almost comparing it to forms of the earth, and photographing my body in abstracted ways. The body is almost a painting with small details and skin running and folding along the paper. I also wanted to show some of the fight in my own self, with the images of me grabbing showing that tension of this idea. The names of the images are pieces of verses throughout the Bible that talk about beauty in one way or another.
Open Access
Abigail Flitton: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Flitton, Abigail, artist
The artist's statement: I am a photographer who focuses on analog materials and processes within my work. I feel that the process and medium in which the work is created inform the conceptual aspect of the work immensely. Through re3the use of film capture and alternative processes such as cyanotype, I often discuss issues of memory and other intangible emotional conditions. Artists such as Todd Hido and Ruth Thorne-Thomsen inform my practice in how I express these intangible conditions through color, light, and composition. Currently, I am exploring memory through photographing houses and manipulating the negative to print cyanotypes to create soft-focus images. The ethereal and evocative result is heightened by the hand-torn printing paper, brush strokes, and toning processes.
Open Access
Gabrielle Andreozzi: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Andreozzi, Gabrielle, artist
The artist's statement: Motions of the unsaid: a series of the self. Spending a year in pandemic has been cause for much self-reflection and reinvention of the self. Forced solitude, manifested both physically and mentally, caused me to realize how uncomfortable with introspection and out of touch with myself I had become. Over the course of a single year, I have gone through more change within my reality than I have in my entire life. I have always been inspired by the way photographic imagery can capture a moment in time that is much too fleeting to be perceived by the naked eye. With one burst of a shutter, these snapshots can be frozen in time, existing past the moment and into the future - forgetting the specificity but remembering and honoring what was and has been. The self-portraiture within this series captures my subconscious experience of growth and emergence through everything I have gone through as a young woman - a visual exploratory event of the transformation unfolding within me that I have not had the words to express. The ambiguous and ever flowing nature of my being is something that I have come to embrace - every beautiful moment I wish I could live in forever, every painful moment when my heart has hurt more than I could have ever imagined - no longer trying to battle against their remembrance out of fear of exposing myself and my vulnerability. These are the motions of my metamorphosis.
Open Access
Laurel Sickels: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Sickels, Laurel, artist
The artist's statement: Throughout my photography practice I have become very interested in focusing on composition creation. I came into college unsure of if I wanted to go down the path of creativity and art or analytics and math. I chose art, but the analytical side of me very strongly shines through within my creations. Many of my early works focus on geometric forms found in society: small fragments of buildings or interestingly formed landscapes. Later in my practice, I found an interest in product photography and set design. I love having control over exactly what I am photographing and how it would be placed within the image. The ability to find objects and balance them against each other using color, form, and shape is very structurally pleasing to me. I am able to adapt those same sensibilities into more abstract photography where I create images that have the same focus on composition but with a heavier focus on a greater meaning to myself.
Open Access
Julia Nguyen: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Nguyen, Julia, artist
The artist's statement: Have you thought about where your produce and meat come from? I have. Over the past several years, I had first-hand experience working with an organic farm in the Midwest. Some of the product takes months to even be ready to be put on the table. In order to have products in the summer or any time of the year, farms have to plan months or even years ahead. There are early mornings and late nights. There are long days outside taking care of the soil and the animals come rain, snow, and shine. Many of us don't see the process of what it takes to have produce and meat. I am hoping that throughout the body of work, I display a behind-the-scenes view of farming and sustainable, regenerative agriculture. By capturing this process, I am hoping to enlighten us all so that we may have a better appreciation for the food that we put on our table. I went around to local farms and a local kombucha fermentation warehouse in Fort Collins, Colorado, in order to capture these moments. What I have seen is amazing— with how much they care about their products! Edward Weston once said, "The camera should be used for a recording of life, for rendering the very substance and quintessence of the thing itself, whether it be polished steel or palpitating flesh." The quote inspires me to not only care about the product but how it came to be.
Open Access
Kaija Hedman: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Hedman, Kaija, artist
The artist's statement: What conditions make a perfect snowflake? This was the question that drove Wilson Bentley, an American Meteorologist, to find what condition makes a perfect snowflake. I came across Bentley's work while researching macro photography and fell in love with his approach to capturing ice. The way Bentley documents snowflakes and the fragile delicate details that are described within the photographs energized me to do my own study of ice. Creating, abstracted ice drives my photography and enlivens nature. What I find fascinating about making ice images is how indefinite these images can be. With these images, I can activate people's imaginations and emotions. My images can take people to a distinct world, where they may feel different emotions like anger, chaos, and/or a sense of nostalgia. The images themselves reveal my technique of taking images. The images displayed a sense of electrical energy that is chaotic and has a quite beautiful form. They hold my vision of photography, that it can be imaginative and frees the mind to react instead of me being proscriptive. I want to open people's eyes that there is beauty all around them and can be something as simple as ice. As I concluded my time at Colorado State University, my ice images are the start to my lifelong portfolio. I, thematically, like to pull at the idea of people stopping and smelling the roses. Seeing the ice specifically continue to hold other people's gazes. Ice has so many uses like keeping your drink cold, being a dangerous element in the winter, or a part of frozen history. As I continue on this journey I hope that I can travel to winter wonderlands and capture their unique ice structures.
Open Access
Sean Papile: capstone
(Colorado State University. Libraries, 2021) Papile, Sean, artist
The artist's statement: Whether I was aware of it or not, my work orbits around the ideas of the 20th century. Space age science fiction, midcentury design, pop art, nuclear fears, and the postwar Americana are all things I have great interest in. The work you see here is a reflection on the American mindset of the middle of the 20th century and concerns ideas that are as relevant now as they were then. Drawing Inspirations from 20th century artists Andy Warhol and Jasper Johns as well as others, these pieces invoke the language of repeated imagery as an aesthetic consequence of the 20th century and an expression of neutrality. The repeated image can tell us about our own perception of time, like a story board or how we perceive things that we see over and over again, as repetition is like a stone that dulls the human perception of imagery. Mass production has a similar effect on human psychology, distorting the value of what we see, buy, consume, or enjoy. These things are all what I consider when making these pieces, particularly the emotion of enjoyment and how deceptively simple that emotion can be. "Return to Earth" is a Narrative body of work that draws a similar inspiration from 20th century space age science fiction, and deepest a supposed return to a scorched post-nuclear earth years in the future. It invokes to use of cinematic language and storytelling through a still photographic medium. I've included it because like the other works in this portfolio, it is derived from the timeless visual language of the 20th century and is an expressed piece of my work and way of thinking.