All rights to this photograph is reserved the photographer
This photograph was taken at an abandoned greenhouse in Yonkers, NY. It is an image taken for my masters thesis at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.
The entire portfolio was purposefully crafted to trigger my own memories later on – but to also trigger personal memories and experiences in the eyes of the viewer – beyond their initial subjective interpretation of the image’s content.
Memories themselves are the electro-chemical renderings of visual images captured by the eyes, combined with stimulation from our other sensory organs, processed into permanency by the brain during our sleep cycle. There is a similarity in this rendering process to my photographic process. Light bouncing off our subject travels through the glass lens striking a sensor creating an electronic rendering of the original visual image, turned into series of binary code to be processed by a computer before becoming permanent during the printing cycle.
Our brain renders the various sensory stimulations into permanency – providing context and connections to other “memories.” This rendering is congruent to my personal postproduction work. I try to add context and connections to other concepts by making adjustments to colors and tones and through textural additions as well.
While it is not clear how memories are stored, it is known that there are millions of connections that have been made, and will continue to be added upon, with all of our existing processed stimulations. Therefore, it is possible for one stimulation to trigger other memories – just as when we identify a smell or hear a song – it can instantly transport us to a memory of a different experience.
Therefore, these images have been purposefully crafted with the dual purpose of creating memories from my own experiences with Emily at the Greenhouse, and create images that super stimulate the viewer’s sensory cells so that other personal memories are triggered thereby allowing the viewer to relate to the image on a much more personal level.
The photographs are printed at 19.18” x 14” upon brushed aluminum using a dye sublimation process adapted from commercial usage to this fine art application. This aspect ratio is the same as silent movie films – a medium that ultimately gave birth to the 35mm still photography format when sound movies were invented.
Shot with a Leica M9 and the 50mm Noctilux f/0.95 lens.
Why I use a Leica:
To me – the M9 is the digital equivalent of my favorite fuji film – even at 1600 iso. The .95 noctilux has the ability to capture images in less light necessary to capture the same image with the human eye. Inherent to this lens property is a soft dreamlike quality applied to the out of focus areas.
To super stimulate the sensory cells in order to have the stimulation latch onto previously rendered stimulation and memories – the images were taken with the following scientific truths applied: colors that are the true frequency of yellow stimulate two of the three applicable sensory cells in the eye at an amount that is greater than most other color frequencies stimulate only one cell.
Additionally, inherent to humanity is our ability to recognize faces. Scientific research suggests that this characteristic is part of us from birth, and that even babies reacted to face-like shapes as opposed to shapes that did not resemble faces, as early as a few days old. Dark eyes surrounded by lighter cheeks and forehead are the biggest indicators and therefore images with these features were preferred in this portfolio.
Lastly, the eye appreciates and is drawn to contrasts. Significant contrasts send electrical stimulation that is much more powerful than the regular chemical stimulation sent normally. Therefore, these images were mostly taken at Sunrise in order to maximize the contrast over the broadest dynamic range.
These images convey memories from our adventure and hopefully stimulate thoughts and experiences from your own adventures.
Please visit Matthew’s aptly named personal web site theleicaguy.com for blog posts about Leica, and of course many more great Leica shots. Or – you can visit his gallery web site at jacksilver.phanfare.com
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I could tell you used the noctilux :)
Great pictures, I love the texture of the background and the light
Nice work, very informative. Thanks!
I looked at your site. Quite nice composition and texture. Your choice of location was intriguing and your friends are lovely. I may be old fashioned, but I think their eyeglasses are distracting.
I do not like his images, sorry…
Since a few days , since the Leica S2 story , i am following his own blog,… almost every day…
And sorry guys, this image is the only one that can be named a “good” image;
I realy realy realy do not like hist work… And i do not like my self for telling this because i think it’s a realy nice guy…
But as a photographer i do not appreciate, it’s the composition, it’s the thematics, the image finish…
Except this image i was a bit disapointed, it’s a pitty. because his reviews are realy honest… And he has a hell of a good equipment choice… But outside the expensive equip, the images look cheap ( sorry english is not my own laguage, so it may be understood harder than i would mean it… )
I mean no disrespect by saying this but I would love to see the same image, in the same setting and lighting, shot with film and no post-processing whatsoever. Sorry, just can’t stand “Photoshop Art”. Just a poor excuse for bad photography.