Image of the Week - 06 September 2005

Firemen

The following description of this week's image is from our featured artist, Kate Anderson, Photography and Graphic Design graduate. The equipment and software mentioned here are found in the Visualization, Media and Imaging Laboratory.
TECHNICAL DETAILS:
The equipment I used to capture this image includes a Hasselblad medium format camera, sekonic light meter, and travel lights.
Once shot and developed I scanned the negative using the Nikon LS-8000 scanner and brought the image into Photoshop. In Photoshop I was able to enhance the image by changing the levels and the color correction, and by cleaning up any dust.
My end goal was to use the file and create slides with the Lasergraphics LFR Mark III Film Recorder and then to create a file ready to be digitally printed at a large output size, 40 x 40 inches.
CONCEPTUAL DETAILS:
This image is apart of a series for my senior thesis project.
My recent work began by playing with the idea of surprise, humor, and misplacement. I chose to combine scenes that people are familiar with and juxtapose them in an unexpected environment. Elevators are often seen as a place where people behave in an uptight and uncomfortable way by keeping to themselves and ignoring fellow passengers. The portraits depict an idealized Americana that features such activities as recreation, domestic chores, everyday life, work, and entertainment. In these portraits, elevators became the small world in which all of this takes place. I chose to emphasize the quaint realities of everyday experience, but with a twist of absurdity. The oddity is pushed further when the model looks out directly at the viewer causing a play between the viewer and model being surprised. The vignettes have a sense of safety and familiarity because the scenes are everyday situations.

Image Courtesy: Katherine L. Anderson

Contact: klanders@uiuc.edu