NIKKOR 85mm, NIKON FE CAMERA

pigment inkjet print on Epson Professional Photo Paper

Options

17 x 22 inches Edition of 250
without frame

27 x 40 inches edition of 10
white floater frame, acid free backing, non-glare glass.
2022

Artist Statement

I really admire the talent, skill and discipline required of the great painters of hyperrealism. I’m drawn to the practise and as a photographer I’ve produced a series of portraits of objects over the years that I liken to hyper realistic paintings. I’m at it again with this composition of one of my favourite film cameras the Nikon FE. This started as a test shot to explore a new equipment I had purchased, along with a new lighting technique and a panorama technique. I was so taken with the composition that I immediately began with the retouching, probably better described as digital painting, that I do to make the subject look iconic and commanding. It is probably not well understood how many hours a photographer can spend digitally painting something like this but it is many, and in my case certainly enough to give me a renewed appreciation of the great painters of hyperrealism.

The old beat-up lens in the composition is a favourite portrait lens of mine that I used back in the nineties to capture hundreds of Canadian actors, dancers and business leaders. I can’t turn on a TV without seeing somebody this lens was used on. I bought it used from a celebrated Canadian photographer. Imagine the adventures, tragedies, heart breaks and triumphs that are contained in the dents and bruises of this lens.