PHOTOGRAPHERS. An original documentary film explaining the theme of the Digital Darkroom exhibit at The Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles might change your thinking about the role of the camera and image-editing software in photographic art.
The Digital Darkroom exhibit (which runs until May 28, 2012) is a group show that explores how 17 artists from the United States, France and the United Kingdom have manipulated digital photographs to create “altered realities.”
The 25-minute film includes behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with 9 photographers in the exhibit: Pierre Beteille, Joel Grimes, Bonny Pierce Lhotka, Jean-François Rauzier, Martine Roch, Brooke Shaden, Stanley Smith, Maggie Taylor, and Jerry Uelsmann. Insights are also provided by the curatorial advisor for the Digital Darkroom Exhibit: Russell Brown, a senior creative director at Adobe Systems Incorporated.
What impressed me about the film is that all of the artists seemed to start out knowing the type of image they wanted to create. It wasn’t about image manipulation simply for the sake of experimentation. Rather, they used image-editing tools to complete an image they already had in mind.
The photographers in the film regard the camera as a starting point for expressing “altered realities” and illusions that exist in their dreams and imaginations. The manipulated digital images depict surreal personal visions and merge fantasy with the real world. Some works blur the lines between photography, painting, and illustration.
The film emphasizes that the unprecedented tools and capabilities we have today have led to “an explosion of creativity.” As Brown points out, artists now are creating the types of imagery that has never before been possible in the history of art.
But the exhibit (and the film) underscore that it’s not the technology that is creating the magic. It’s the talent behind the tools that make certain images resonate.
In addition to viewing the featured documentary about The Digital Darkroom exhibit, you can watch a 3D film about 3D photography. A 2D version of the 3D film is available for those who don’t have access to 3D glasses.
LINKS
About the Annenberg Space for Photography
Online Video: The Digital Darkroom
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