Colby
Caldwell is a professor here at St. Mary’s and has been for over ten years. He
is originally from the mountains of North Carolina and his life growing up
deeply affected and inspired his artwork. He told us what began his career was
the super 8 film from his grandfather’s hunting trips. These films were
engrained in his head from annual thanksgiving viewings of the film. He was
amazed by the colors and blurry landscapes that were a result of stills he took
from the film.
He later moved from super 8 films to
a medium format camera. He worked in color as well as black and white. Colby
stated that his move from D.C. to St. Mary’s county upon acceptance of the
photography professor position at SMCM was a dramatic change in environment and
therefore his art. He found his roots back in the natural world around him.
Living on piece of land that had not been changed for years, looking out his
front door began his curiosity in the seasons as well as artifacts found on
this land. He transitioned from taking photos of visitors as the seasons
changed into his most recent series called “Spent”. This is a series where he
used a digital scanner as the camera and composed images of “spent” shit gun
shells. He found these shells on his walks with his two dogs.
The “Spent” series in particular is
very interesting because for one he does not use a literal camera. Also, he
leaves the images on a plain white background. The shotgun shells are very
textural and worn by the earth. Each has its own character and story.
I can only relate to Colby’s work
vaguely because I for one have never taken photos with a medium format camera.
I do not use a scanner to create photos and I have never even seen a super 8 films.
I also do not have the same style at all as Colby. I do find similarities among
our work though when it comes to his early work with color. I often work with
images that create interesting colors and tones. Also, I more recently am
working with images that are very textural and macro focused, like his shot gun
shell images. I have a hobby of collecting old bottles that I find in old trash
piles in the woods and in streams. I think it would be very interesting to scan
them and see what is created.
I do believe that sometimes his work
can confuse me and it makes me think. It is never straightforward with a
singular meaning. His images have a lot of background and were made for his own
purpose rather than for others. I like and respect his work but in the end he
has me tilting my head in wonder.
No comments:
Post a Comment