02.14.10 : Artist Entry : Elaine Duigenan

Elaine Duigenan is a Fine Art Photographer based in London. She received her BA (Hons) Art / Art History, at Goldsmiths College, and University of London. She has collections at Victoria & Albert Museum (London), and The Museum of Fine Art (Houston).

These images are from a series called Mysteries of Generation. The images were taken over the course of three years at the Royal College of Surgeons, London. They are of 200 year old animal specimens which were preserved by pioneer anatomist John Hunter (1728 - 1793). All together the Hunterian Museum at The Royal College has 3,600 specimens.

“For me, photography has become an ‘act of preservation’ and objects I focus on become the locators or igniters of memory. The traces and remnants we find in any landscape can spark recognition. They can even invoke a presence.” - Elaine Duigenan

"She is fascinated by what she has begun to term 'intimate archaeology'. This arises out of a passion for both 'sense of place' and collecting/unearthing treasure. We all keep or preserve things as mementoes and Elaine is able to discover symbolism in the most mundane of objects. Her work invariably has an air of mystery and ambiguity which is often heightened when subjects are placed in a particular light or landscape. " - Watermark Fine Art Photographs & Books, September 2007

Since I have been having problems finding new places to shoot, I am thinking about bringing my project in a different direction. I have been thinking about capturing and enclosing animals myself in jars. These images are really striking not only because of there content but also the manner in which they were shot. The lighting on the jars themselves are dramatic and the subjects are really intriguing.

Elaine Duigenan
Gallery

02.10.11 : Idea Entry : Mason Jar

A Mason jar is a glass jar used in canning to preserve food. They were invented and patented by John Landis Mason, a Philadelphia tinsmith in 1858. They are also called Ball jars, after Ball Corp., a popular and early manufacturer of the jars; fruit jars because they are often used to store fruit.
The Ball Brothers Glass Manufacturing Company began manufacturing fruit jars in 1884 in Buffalo, New York. After a destructive fire in the Buffalo plant, however, the five Ball brothers and their families relocated to Muncie, Indiana, where their business has become known worldwide.

Mason jars have screw-on rings. The ring holds the lid in place during the canning process, which creates a partial vacuum, sealing the lid until opened.

The Mason jar was also used during warfare. The safety pin of hand grenades would be pulled and the grenades would be placed in glass Ball Mason jars which would hold back the safety lever. The safety lever would release upon the shattering of the jar and the grenade would detonate. This particular improvised explosive device was popular with chopper crews in Vietnam, who would use them as improvised anti-personnel cluster bombs during raids. They were easy to dump out of the flight door over a target,and the thick Ball Mason glass was resistant to premature shattering in the air.

Today they are used for a variety of reasons. They can used for lighting or chandeliers, a vase, food preserver, drinking glass, bug jar, storage jar, ingredient jars, etc.

02.07.11 : Artist Entry : Steve Poxson

Steve Poxson is fascinated by the way the photograph can confuse the viewer, turning their beliefs and ideas on their head, which has inspired his series ‘Abnormal Beauty’. In this series he displays conventionally beautiful items, such as flowers and butterflies, juxtaposed with objects which do not conform to our typical ideas of beauty including animal skulls and offal, to create a striking image.

In the age of digital photography Poxson is reinventing this form by emulating the early processes of the photogram. To create his alluringly decorative images, the photographer places the objects that interest him on a flat bed scanner, through which he is able to elevate these objects into something extraordinary, whilst questioning what a photograph really is and how we understand the medium of photography.

The objects are scanned at a high resolution preserving a density of detail that is beyond the limits of the human eye. This places them almost into a hyper reality where the viewer feels like they can almost reach out and touch them.

" My latest work is a continuation of a earlier project using a flatbed scanner to capture various objects with a hyper real level of detail, turning these images into intense patterns." - Steve Poxson

His work appealed to me because I have been thinking about capturing animals myself and photographing them. I have been trying to come up with different methods of photographing them and this artist caught my eye. These scans and unique and are aesthetically pleasing. I am thinking about capturing animals in jars and photographing them possibly in their natural environment, or in the studio with a white or black backdrop.

Steve Poxson
Gallery

02.03.11 : Idea Entry : Are Animals Self-Aware?

The mirror test is a measure of self-awareness, as animals either possess or lack the ability to recognize themselves in a mirror. Animals that have passes the mirror test are all of the great apes (bonobos, chimpanzees, orangutans, humans, and gorillas), rhesus macaques, bottlenose dolphins, orcas, elephants, pigs, and European Magpies. Dogs, cats, and young human babies all fail the mirror test. Humans tend to fail the mirror test until they are about 18 months old.

Such self-awareness is rare. Scientists previously believed only humans, apes and dolphins possessed self-recognition skills. All of these animals are highly intelligent and seem to feel empathy, a quality that likely is linked to self-awareness. Many other animals possess self-awareness, a multi-faceted, complex phenomenon, which seems to manifest itself at different levels.

Christian Ziegler

"It may be freely admitted that no animal is self-conscious, if by this term it is implied that he reflects on such points, as whence he comes or whither he will go, or what is life and death, and so forth." - The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Charles Darwin

"Nevertheless, the difference in mind between man and the higher animals, great as it is, certainly is one of degree and not of kind." Thus, there are shades of gray and not black-and-white differences between humans and other animals in cognitive abilities. So, while animals might not ponder life and death the way humans do, they still may have some sense of self. - The Descent of Man and Selection in Relation to Sex, Charles Darwin


After decades of studying animals ranging from coyotes, gray wolves, domestic dogs, and Adelie penguins and other birds, Marc Bekoff, writer of Minding animals: Awareness, Emotions, and Heart, come to the conclusion that not only are some animals self-aware, but also that there are degrees of self-awareness. He argues that a sense of body-ness is necessary and sufficient for most animals to engage in social activities that are needed in the social milieus in which they live.

Contest Entry 4 : PDNPhoto Annual Contest

12.31.10 : Artist Entry : Sam Easterson

Sam Easterson has been making video art for over 10 years. Included among the art museums that have exhibited his work are the Whitney Museum of American Art, "Biennial Exhibition" (New York), the Walker Art Center (Minneapolis), the International Center of Photography (New York) and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (North Adams). In addition, Easterson's enterprise, Animal Vegetable Video, has also worked on projects for Animal Planet, the Exploratorium, the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles and the National Museum of New Zealand, among others.

Easterson is a graduate of The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art in New York and also earned a Master of Science in Landscape Architecture from the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis. He has received grants from the Peter S. Reed Foundation, the Yellow Fox Foundation, the Durfee Foundation and the Creative Capital Foundation, among numerous others. In addition, Easterson is also a recipient of the Louis Comfort Tiffany Prize.

As a way to increase the public's awareness of animals and plants in their native habitats as well as gain a new perspective on these creature's daily lives, Easterson straps tiny helmet-mounted video cameras onto everything from buffaloes to tarantulas. By allowing animals and plants to be the documentarians we are shown their daily battles with the landscape, their interactions with other species as well as their intimate gestures and sounds.

"If people can see things from the animal and plant perspective, they are far less likely to harm them or their habitat, so that's how I present it." - Sam Easterson

"The first thing I realized was how intelligent and aware they are. The project changed everything in terms of respect." - Sam Easterson

"I was shocked to realize all the other animals in the flock could tell that this one sheep with the camera had been 'altered' in some way. She kept trying to enter, and they kept treating her as an outcast. I also learned sheep can run very fast and fences are not as sturdy as you think." - Sam Easterson

Easterson work tries to show life through an animals perspective. That is one of the ways I am thinking about directing my work. I am trying to accomplish a feeling of perspective by animals in cages, fences and enclosers. Looking at Easterson's work helped me to understand more about an animals perspective and their interaction with one another in nature. The interaction between species is something that really intrigues me and I would like to pursue it in my work.

Sam Easterson
Animal, Vegetable, Video: Where the Buffalo Roam
Gallery
Video

12.24.10 : Artist Entry : Rosie Hardy

Rosie Hardy is photographer based in the UK. She is known for her portraits that dig into surreal concepts, and recently, for being the photographer behind Maroon 5′s upcoming full-length’s album cover. She is also a very successful teacher and has her own workshops she takes to different cities around the UK.

Rosie Hardy's surreal, female-focused photography is described as being able to let your mind wander into a world of curiosity and wonder. The varied images of women in both seemingly normal and quite bizarre situations are amazing. Her photographs have been described as marvelously eery, and photo enhanced.

"Equipment isn’t everything, and all great photographers started out crap like the rest of us! I only recently upgraded to the camera I have now, and while the quality of my pictures are technically now better, the concepts remain the same. And without those concepts, my work would be nothing." - Rosie Hardy

"I find inspiration all over – obviously there are some cracking photographers out there who really inspire me to get my act together and create something better than I’ve done before, but a lot of the themes and ideas I use come from every day life... When I see something that catches my eye, I try and draw the stereotypes from that object/location/person, and work out a concept which opposes that stereotype." - Rosie Hardy


The image of the reflection of the women through glass is what first interested me in Rosie's work. As a continuation of my previous project, I have been looking into taking picture of people through glass, and cages instead of animals to emphasize the interspecies connect between humans and animals. I found that some of her other work incorporated the idea of human and animal connection or human to nature connections.

Rosie Hardy
Rosie Hardy (Client Website)
Interview