Alternative Processes
This month I started experimenting with different cameras, lenses and <gasp!> actual film. The march towards the elusive MFA continues, my course work this semester centering around experimental contemporary photography. It's pushing me to get out from behind the computer and literally get my hands dirty. Chemicals and plastic cameras, pinholes and processing times. I enjoy it.
Our first project required us to use our camera phone to capture a series of images that would, as Vilem Flusser wrote, "work against the apparatus." That is, bend this thing to my will as the photographer, rather than operating as a slave to its automatic functions. Flusser's work "Towards a Philosophy of Photography" served as the basis of this exploration. It's a great read.
My experiments took me to that strange and disorienting circus known as Santa Monica Blvd. It's my neighborhood, and I walk its streets all the time. I wanted to capture the feeling of the lights, the people, the traffic with nothing more than my iPhone and a few apps.
This is what I got:
Jared Fortunato "Untitled Self-Portrait with Angel Wings" 2015
The apps I used for the project were amazing. If you're at all interested in iPhone photography, be sure to check them out.