Via Flickr:
Watching Mona Lisa – Paris – in camera multiple exposure. This image, printed on stretched canvas, was exhibited at Toronto’s 2007 Contact Festival. See more at www.dagostino.ca/Contact/contact_index.html
First and foremost the goal of my website project is to promote the idea of photo impressionism as a genre in the hope that others will embrace it.
When I first started to create photo impressionistic images in the mid nineties there were only a few photographers exploring it on the web and fewer in print. Freeman Patterson’s book Photo Impressionism and the Subjective Image published in 2001 was a powerful resource and really changed the way I visualized photography ; really an extreme extension of the unbridled call for creativity in his 1999 book Photography for the Joy of It. Since then, and in no small part thanks to the digital revolution, photo impressionistic images have joined the main stream (if evidence is needed, look no farther than the plethora of multiple exposure and slow shutter images coming out of the Olympics.)
However, straight photography has been so prevalent for so long that photo impressionistic images still are not well received. Interestingly photographers seem most reluctant to embrace it. The comments appearing in dpreview.com’s coverage of Reuters’ Olympic multiple exposures illustrates point. It is shocking to see photographers loose site of the fact that every image is a”mere”representation of the event, not a true reproduction. Photo Impressionism is no different. Using photography as the medium it tries to capture the essence of a moment or thing and convey that essence to the viewer.
Here is a selection of photographers who seem to have embraced photo impressionistic techniques. I don’t mean for this list to be exclusive or exhaustive so by all means contact me if you would like to be included:
Pep Ventosa
Lovely photo impressionistic images “in the the round”:
http://www.pepventosa.com
Eva Polak
Lots of experimentation resulting in some great images. Check out her abstracts:
http://www.evapolak.com/
Dave Wodchris
Check out his use of slow shutter technique which produce some lovely abstracts:
Susan Thomson
Interesting hand coloured sx70 prints. I like the creative use of this old school technology to produce a photo impressionistic look:
http://www.sx70.com
Nikhil Bahl
Sun Flowers using slow shutter pan and zoom. Reminiscent of Van Gogh:
http://nikhilbahl.blogspot.ca/2010/07/photo-impressionism-zoom-flick.html
Flickr
There is a lot of great talent showcasing on Flickr. Check out the photo Impressionism groups:
