Soura Magazine

Soura Book

Soura Magazine — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 06:15:09 +0000

Soura Magazine is a space where photography meets fine art in a marriage of aesthetics, vision, and inspiration. It is a quarterly publication passionate about giving fine art photography a voice and an arena to showcase the best and most innovative works it has to offer. Fine art photographic artists, enthusiasts, and students find that Soura not only spotlights an art form that deserves immense recognition, but it also aims to educated through informative tutorials, and inspire through success stories. Soura Magazine is the only photography magazine hailing from the artistically rich Middle East region; it is distributed internationally and has garnered a passionate global fan-base. The year 2010 marked the 5th anniversary of Soura Magazine, and was celebrated with the launch of its first book entitled Soura Magazine Turns 5.

This special edition of Soura Magazine marked our 5th year anniversary, and in order to celebrate our present, and plan for our future, we had to take a long and hard look at our past. And that is exactly what this issue is. It is a journey back of sorts, a retrospective appraisal of what we’ve accomplished and how far we’ve come.

It was when we took the time to review our past accomplishments did we really come to realize our present standing, who we were, and who we’ve become. So we thought to take you on this voyage back in time, to be your guide on this ride into our past issues, the ideas behind them, the talent featured, and the evolution of Soura Magazine. We gathered together the best of each of our issues: great talents, emerging artists, iconic names in photography, innovative photographers, all in one compendium. We’re making history in fine-art photography, and paving the way for the future.

In this issue you will find all the themes we have ever featured categorically organized for easy browsing, and within each theme, the best photographers that were featured in that particular issue. Names like Yosuf Karsh, Danilo Piccioni, Hugh Turvey, Ali Alisir, Chip Forelli, Thamer Al-Tassan, Boza Ivanovic, Karim Ramzi, and much, much more. We have also compiled together the best Tutorials ever featured, providing detailed guidance into photographic and photo-editing work by world-renowned photographers like Alessandro Maggi. While we have only chosen a selection of the photographers and artwork ever featured in Soura Magazine, we stand by all the photographers and great talent that were previously featured but whose work you may not find in this special edition. If only we could re-publish every single one of them, we would. They have all had a great hand in making Soura Magazine what it is today, a celebrated international fine-art photography magazine

Majid Azim

Soura Magazine — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:02:29 +0000

Fun and Games!

Majid Azim is a graphic designer currently working at a game development studio, who admittedly loves his career choice, especially that social and casual games are a part of a fast-growing industry.

“For Azim photography is not a profession, but an expensive hobby. He indulges in taking pictures of nature and taking miniature shots that narrate a story.

Despite receiving a Bachelors degree in Business Administration, Azim has always harbored a passion for art. So much so that he began seeking how to learn to draw and create animation during his university years. After his graduation in 2009, Azim joined a social game development start up, participated in the development of a few games, and then moved to another startup in 2010 where he currently is, one that specializes mostly in mobile phone games.

For Azim photography is not a profession, but an expensive hobby. He indulges in taking pictures of nature and taking miniature shots that narrate a story. Azim began exploring photography with a Canon s3is Powershoot, but now only uses it to make time-lapse images. He works with a Canon 1000D now that travels with him everywhere.

Matter of Figures

I collect action figures from wherever I can; local stores, online etc. I have a collection that includes figures from Halo, Wall-e, The Smurfs as well as a number of random collectibles. Making up stories around these figures is fun, although getting judged by them is an added “benefit”.

I am thinking of making a short video using all of these, but need time to think of a decent story line. During my recent trip to Dubai, I picked up five Smurf figures. Later, as a story began developing in my mind I took them out in my backyard and started to create movie sets. After quite some time and a number of mosquito bites, I ran out of ideas and called it a day.

Tia Addina

Soura Magazine — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:32:18 +0000

Lover of the Little

Born in 1996, 15 year old Tia Addina has a head start on her career as a photographer. Being home-schooled affords Addina a lot of time to collect small dried specimens to make her own dollhouse miniatures. Addina finds immense pleasure in collecting small things that she finds beautiful, like shells, miniature shoes, little cameras, plastic toys, and pretty paper clips. This love for small objects has a heavy influence on her photography and since starting her “photographic journey” as she likes to call it; she has amassed a whole wardrobe of such objects.

Only two years ago, after having experimented for a while, Addina decided to set up a DeviantArt account to share a few of her attempts. Her work was received with great positivity on the website. A month or two later, one of her pictures received a Daily Deviation award. This award is given daily to a few selected pieces from different genres of art and the selected pieces are showcased to the whole world on the website’s homepage for an entire day. Addina was admittedly so excited as a result, and her DeviantArt inbox, which usually receives 20 to 40 messages and notices, was flooded with as many as 2000 messages.

From then onwards, Addina started to take photography a little more seriously while still making sure to retain the element of fun and her unstructured approach that she started with. With the help and support of her parents, as well as her thirst for knowledge from photography publications and other kinds of books and magazines, today Addina’s gallery has been viewed more than 180,000 times and more than 6,000 people have subscribed to it. She has also received her second Daily Deviation 6 months ago.

A Bag of Toys

My approach to photography is to play and experiment until a theme reveals itself. I love playing with all sorts of themes. Usually, I will have a bag of toys and things that I like and play with. I arrange them until I have a composition that looks interesting. Because the shoot is so unstructured, there’s never a guarantee whether I’ll get a good picture or not. That’s the fun of it!

In my mind, I am always looking for ways to show how objects can represent stories. The idea or meaning of the picture usually comes after the picture is taken, while I am editing the picture or when I’m about to upload it to the web. Many viewers say that they find my pictures lighthearted and cute. This is what I like to create the most. Some have said that my pictures make them feel happy and remind them of their childhood! I really love using the square format because it feels ‘solid’.

Titles have the power to open up the viewer’s mind to the story of the picture. Most of the time, it isn’t my intention to project a message in my photos but I’ve made it a point that the titles I give them should really fit the picture and feel right. In my short experience in sharing my work online, titles have the power to make or break a post! The titles can be quite direct and literal or they can be abstract and poetic. I believe that if you have an abstract title, you force the viewer to fill in the gaps between the title and picture and this makes the experience delightful. I create titles that project a story into a picture

“as well as to capture what I feel is the character of the photograph.

The idea or meaning of the picture usually comes after the picture is taken, while I am editing the picture or when I’m about to upload it to the web.

When ideas come to you, write them down in full detail immediately in a log book that you will never lose. These records are important as references that can be retrieved later. You might not use the ideas immediately, but it will give you time to gather resources and plan for their execution. One of my tips for getting inspiration is to just put up your work for the world to see and to not worry about what people say about your work. This feedback can be in the form of praise, criticism and/or comments that can help you improve your work. When I was still new to DeviantArt, I received a comment saying that the colors on some of my pictures were too faded. This comment prompted me to experiment with really vivid colors and now this has become such an integral part of my style that I’m glad I received that criticism.

I am very fortunate in the sense that my whole family is into photography (including my little brother!). My mom loves painting and macro photography and she has a good eye for colors. My dad often teaches me about techniques and how to use camera gear. I’ve learned a lot from both of them. It’s very motivating and I’m very grateful for it.

In my two years of practicing photography, I have mostly experimented with still life and conceptual work. In the future, I aspire to expand my imagination and knowledge and explore different branches of photographic imaging, and to learn more about the exciting possibilities of the medium.

Dongedy

Soura Magazine — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 13:41:22 +0000

Dongedy is a French photographer who currently resides in Chantilly near Paris with her husband and three kids. After working in the corporate world of marketing and communications for French luxury brands for the past ten years, Fabre set out on her own to work independently when she became a mother. That is when she ventured into photography; she purchased her first camera with the intention of using it on professional projects as a communication consultant.

Taking Flight

Shoveling Sugar

My immersion in macro worlds began in 2008 with a project of corporate greeting cards. I was asked to create a funny card for a French gourmet food firm. Inspired by the story of French giants Pantagruel and Gargantua, I came up with my own story where tiny workers worked hard to make giant candies for the firm. And this macro photo became the first of a new series.

“ I am always searching for new ways to use the camera to generate new stories and to add something surreal to everyday items.

As I learned more about the technical aspects of photography, I became increasingly interested in still life and macro work. I love to create and photograph tiny scenes from everyday items with mini people. I painstakingly create enticing little worlds where mini men scale nutella jars, couples ice skate over tarts and little arrangements of sweets become bustling construction areas. I dream about little worlds in which you can meet real heartbreakers, or have a baby nursery in flower petals, or shovel sugar. I find inspiration in literature, natural history or sports. I am always searching for new ways to use the camera to generate new stories and to add something surreal to everyday items. I am constantly trying to look at the items around me in a new light. On my desk, in my kitchen, in shops: I’m always wondering whether this USB key, this teapot or that fork could match mini people to create new photos.

“ It took a long time for me to find a place where the imaginary could meet the reality, but I found it.

It took a long time for me to find a place where the imaginary could meet the reality, but I found it. I like to make people smile, and I invite them to fly with me to those small worlds they have not seen yet. It’s a whole new dimension to explore!

Soura Magazine #32

Soura Magazine — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 17:56:34 +0000

It’s A Small World After All.

In every issue of Soura Magazine we feature the work of highly talented fine art photographers who scrutinize the world around them in search of an inspiring shot, and who set out on sometimes perilous journeys to capture the right light, the right weather conditions, and the right mood. But that is not the only way to fulfill a passion for photography. Other photographers choose to create a world of their own imagination before reaching for their cameras. Constructing every miniscule detail to obsessive precision, designing lighting conditions, devising elaborate dioramas, and building worlds as close to real as possible.

In this issue of Soura Magazine, we meet the quirky miniscule collectibles of Tia Addina set in the most off-beat arrangements, to the WWII inspired Paolo Ventura as he takes us through his 1940s masterfully created Italy, just to name a few. We are given access to the imaginations of talented model-makers and photographers, much like landscape photographer David Anthony Hall who created a gallery on a scale of 1:50 to exhibit miniature versions of his large format panoramic images. Also featured in this issue is Louis Vuitton

Art Talks, an annual convocation of art and art lovers by the luxury brand brought to the Middle East for the first time in Dubai this year.

We could go on and on in elaborate; meticulous detail about the absolute wonder and joy packed in this issue of Soura Magazine. But we would rather the elaborate and meticulous worlds created by the talented diorama makers and photographers in this issue bring you that very same wonder and joy.

CONTENT | ISSUE 32
Featured Photographers: Majid Azim, Tia Addina, Dongedy, Craig Elliot
Cover Photographer: Lori Nix
Making of Cover Photograph: Majestic Diorama by Lori Nix
Special Events: Art Dubai 2012
Special Feature: Louis Vuitton Art Talks
Gallery Feature: One2Fifty Gallery, Interview with David Anthony Hall
Books Review: War Souvenir, Winter Stories, The Automaton, and Behind the Walls by Paolo Ventura

The Secrets Behind Majestic: Lori Nix Tells All

Soura Magazine — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 14:27:52 +0000

In Lori Nix’s work, something catastrophic has happened, and all the people have disappeared. What exactly is this disaster? That is left up to the viewer to decide. The resulting destruction has left the manmade spaces to fend for themselves against the encroaching elements, as nature reclaims what is rightfully hers. These chilling scenes are intricately built dioramas, ironic in the sense that their construction is entirely controlled and manipulated by a human hand, only to result in representing the lack of control human beings ultimately have. After meticulously building her dioramas, Nix then photographs them and presents her work in large format.

“ Each diorama takes about seven months to create, but the process begins well before I, and my assistant Kathleen, even begin to work on the actual scene.

The duo starts by conducting research that entails visiting spaces that already exist, purchasing books on the subject as well as researching images on Google. “Once I have a pretty good idea of how I want the scene to look, we start doing sketches in colored pencil and watercolor to nail down the specific color palette. We also make sketches of some of the design elements we want to include in the diorama,” explains Nix.

After the research stage is over, Nix and her assistant begin rounding up the needed raw materials such as latex paint, decorative elements, gold lea[ves] and foam boards, Exacto blades and such. “We start building the most difficult architectural elements first. For the theater, we thought the loge needed
to be fully completed before creating walls, ceiling and stage. We wanted the loge to be semicircular in shape and have very decorative elements framing this area,” Nix elaborates. The interior walls of the loge were created from plastic sheeting and glued onto foam forms to keep the circular bend of the walls. These were then set into the actual wall itself. “We started painting and gold leafing the balcony element first, then started on the columns and arch over the loge,” she explains.

The columns and arch were created out of various layers of foam and basswood, cloth trim, paint and gold leaf, “once this section of the theater was completed, we built out the rest of the walls and back of the theater. Once we had these in place, we could figure out the slope and shape of the two balconies,” says Nix. At this point, Nix glued down wallpaper, paint, and gilded decorative trim. After this was dry, the duo installed the balconies. Focus then shifted to the ceiling where they carefully laid out where moldings would go, and then created more texture with strips of basswood painted white. Nix goes on to explain, “We had one major piece of molding that would be the centerpiece of the ceiling and would hold our grand chandelier.”

“ Once I have a pretty good idea of how I want the scene to look, we start doing sketches in colored pencil and watercolor to nail down the specific color palette.

“While we were creating the walls, loge and ceiling, I was also sculpting individual theater seats out of foam. These would progressively get smaller as they went to the back of the theater. I really wanted to force the spatial perspective of the place,” says Nix. She went on to paint the chairs purple, and then glued them together in rows. Nix’s assistant Kathleen worked on sculpting the large black birds out of polymer clay and Nix’s friend Dan put the finishing touches on his large chandelier and four smaller lights as well as the Majestic theater sign. “After these were installed, it was left up to me to set up my studio strobes and set the large format camera in place,” explains Nix. After a week of shooting the diorama, Nix finally had her final image on film. Although Nix does not envision what specific trauma occurred in this theater, she re-iterates that the idea that runs through the entire series The City is that something catastrophic has happened to the city and mankind has been wiped off the face of the earth. All that is left is our cultural shells, buildings both grand and everyday. Some buildings have been affected by flood and insect infestation; most are just falling down due to lack of attention. “My main concern for the Majestic,” she explains, “was to view the theater from the back of the stage out towards the audience. The viewers’ reaction to the image becomes the drama for the stage.”

Craig Elliott

Soura Magazine — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 07:12:53 +0000

Craig Elliot is a travel-lover at heart, one who relishes in emerging himself in local cultures of the places he visits. His travels have acquired him a large rock and mineral collection from all over the world, one that is comprised of over 2000 specimens.

Image Traveling

A passionate outdoorsman, Elliot’s travels and activities outdoors afford him great opportunities for photographing nature and extraordinary landscapes and locales. Elliot lives in a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and has gained many international contacts through viewing and discussing other photographers’ work on Flickr, several of whom have become good personal friends. His camera of choice is a Sony A55, due to its lightweight, compact size and fast speed.

Elliot has learnt a great many things from other photographers. With six years of experience in digital photography under his belt, he still considers himself an amateur photographer. Elliot’s chief interest lies in macro-photography, although shooting landscapes and nature holds a special place in his heart. His personal goal is to document his travels in as much meticulous detail as possible, so that the viewer experiences the visual effect of being there. This detailed photographic trip planner can be used by anyone to explore the locales that Elliot has visited as a pre-travel visual guide.

ART DUBAI 2012

Soura Magazine — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:05:01 +0000

The sixth edition of Art Dubai takes place March 21-24, 2012, at Madinat Jumeirah, UAE. The most established international fair in MENASA (Middle East/North Africa/South Asia), Art Dubai 2012 features a carefully selected roster of 74 galleries from 31 countries. The fair includes leading galleries and dynamic young spaces from across Europe, the Americas, the Middle East, Australia, Asia and Africa.

Art Dubai is part of Art Week, the umbrella initiative that includes a range of contemporary art and design events, major museum shows, and new gallery exhibitions and artists’ projects, taking place each March to coincide with Art Dubai. Art Week positions the Gulf as a place of artistic production and home to multiple cultural centers.

Held in partnership with Abraaj Capital and sponsored by Cartier, Art Dubai takes place in Madinat Jumeirah (www.jumeirah.com), on Dubai’s beachfront.

“Art Dubai epitomizes the globalised phenomenon that is today’s art world,” says Antonia Carver, Fair Director, Art Dubai. “Over the past five years, the fair has become known as a point of discovery, and an essential meeting point on the art world calendar.” In 2011, Art Dubai welcomed over 20,000 visitors, including 60 international museum groups.

“The 2012 fair was oversubscribed, and the gallery selection process was particularly tough,” says Carver. “The selection is limited to around 75 galleries – we’re aiming for a unique fair with a diverse, curated and intimate approach.”

New participants in 2012 include Arndt (Berlin), Rodolphe Janssen (Brussels), Lombard Freid Projects (New York), Galerie Mirchandani + Steinruecke (Mumbai), The Pace Gallery (New York, London, Beijing), Galerie Perrotin (Paris), and Platform China (Beijing).

Galleries returning from 2011 include Athr Gallery (Jeddah), Chantal Crousel (Paris), Experimenter (Kolkata), Goodman (Johannesburg, Capetown), Grey Noise (Lahore), Marianne Boesky Gallery (New York), Sfeir-Semler (Hamburg, Beirut) and The Third Line (Dubai).

Galleries planning artist focus shows include Mumbai’s Chemould Prescott Road, with new works by Shezad Dawood; Argentinian galleries GC Estudio de Arte and Galeria Teresa Anchorena with a stand featuring kinetic sculpture; and Impronte Contemporary Art (Milan), which specializes in contemporary video and photography from Central Asia.

Marker, the curated section of ‘concept stands’ launched in 2011, this year turns its focus to the Indonesian arts scene. Commissioned by Art Dubai, the renowned, Yogyakarta-born curator Alia Swastika has invited five Indonesian galleries – Ark Galerie, Biasa Artspace, Galerie Canna, D’Gallerie, and Jogja Contemporary – to participate; they are now working with artists to produce new work for the fair in March 2012.

Curator of the upcoming Jogja Biennial and one of the artistic directors of the 9th Gwangju Biennial, Swastika says, “Like the Middle East, Indonesia has witnessed the growth of an extraordinarily dynamic arts scene, where art is perceived not only as an integral part of life, but as a tool to reflect on society. Exhibiting at Art Dubai offers Indonesian artists a ‘connecting door’ to be a part of this new era in contemporary Muslim societies, and for the art world at large to get to know our artists, as they take to the international stage.”

Besides a stellar selection of international galleries, Art Dubai features an innovative, non-commercial program of talks, projects and educational initiatives. The critically-acclaimed Global Art Forum, under the directorship of curator and writer Shumon Basar, expands to six days. It begins at Mathaf: Arab Museum of Modern Art in Qatar, March 18-19, 2012, and continues at Art Dubai, March 21-24, 2012.

Highlights of Art Dubai Projects 2012 include a new artists’ and curator’s residency program – a partnership between Art Dubai, the Delfina Foundation, Dubai Culture & Arts Authority, and Tashkeel – plus commissioned site-specific works, performances, radio and research projects.

The curator’s residency is in collaboration with ArtAsiaPacific. The participants will be announced early December.

Art Dubai is an anchor event within Art Week, which expands in 2012 to include a range of art and design events across the Gulf.

For more information and the latest updates, please visit www. artdubai.ae, become a Fan of Art Dubai on Facebook and follow on Twitter at @artdubai.

Lori Nix

Soura Magazine — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 07:59:17 +0000

Lori Nix was born in Norton, Kansas, in the rural middle of the United States, and holds an advanced degree in ceramics and photography. A landscape photographer at heart, Nix has been building and photographing fake landscapes and complex dioramas in her Brooklyn apartment for over a decade, “With a traditional outdoor landscape, the photographer waits for the perfect light, a beautiful perspective, snaps the shutter, and then packs the camera away.

Urban Paradise Lost

I create my dioramas to be seen from one point of view, one camera position,” explains Nix. Nix uses a super wide-angle lens, almost placing her camera inside the diorama, “it can take me anywhere from one to two weeks to shoot the scene. I expose a couple of sheets of 8×10 film, run it to the photo lab for processing, make contacts, then start adjusting my studio strobes to sculpt the scene with lights,” she says.

Nix then checks her line of focus and makes micro adjustments, then starts the process again with a few more sheets of film, and more adjustments with the strobes. “When I feel like I’m getting close to having a final image, I’ll print a very large print to see the minute details and how they look on film,” says Nix.

Nix’s work has garnered her several grants and a cult following among young photographers. She has exhibited across the United States with exhibitions at ClampArt Gallery in New York City, the George Eastman House, Catherine Edelman Gallery in Chicago, Ellen Miller Gallery, Boston, the California Museum of Photography, and the G. Gibson Gallery in Seattle. Her work was just featured in a diorama exhibition entitled Otherworldly at the Museum of Arts and Design during the summer of 2011 in New York City. Her series The City will be exhibited in its entirety at the Toledo Museum of Art in Toledo, Ohio, this fall.

As a photographer and creator of elaborate dioramas, Nix does not find other forms of photography less complex. She works by day in a professional color lab as a mural printer and film contactor, so she is seeing a lot of work from a diverse group of photographers, from fashion to location to fine art photographers. “Where I’m spending hours upon hours in the studio, their concerns may be about getting their equipment on location, finding models, hiring assistants and dealing with creative directors and needy clients. They will achieve their goals faster than I achieve mine, but the only person I have to answer to is myself, (and my two cats),” admits Nix.

Nix considers herself a faux landscape photographer. She builds meticulously detailed model environments, and then photographs the results. Through the photographic process, the fictional scene is transformed into a surreal space, where scale, perspective, and the document of the photograph create a tension between the material reality of the scene and the impossibility of the depicted narrative, “in this space, between evidence and plot, the imagination of the viewer is unlocked, engaged, and provoked,” says Nix. “I want for my scenes to convey rich, complex, detailed, and, ultimately, open-ended narratives.”

“ The photographs I create do not reflect the tradition of the grand idyllic landscape. Rather than showing the beautiful or heroic vista, I look to the darker corners of life.

Several common themes prevail throughout Nix’s work: the constructed photograph, the landscape in turmoil, and danger married to humor. She presents these elements as the raw materials of stories with messages, but without conclusions. “The photographs I create do not reflect the tradition of the grand idyllic landscape. Rather than showing the beautiful or heroic vista, I look to the darker corners of life. I am interested in the forces of entropy, in the ruins left in the wake of human pretence of grandeur,” she explains. Nix’s scenes are usually devoid of people and this emptiness becomes an important element. In this way, the impact of civilization is shown by what remains in the absence of humans. Evidence of humans may still be visible, but the cause for their absence is left unclear, allowing the viewer to complete the narrative. For her current series The City, Nix imagines that something catastrophic has happened and happened quickly, “We have perished seemingly overnight, as if we got up from our kitchen table and vanished.”

In The City, Nix focuses on the ruins of urban landscapes, “I have chosen the spaces that celebrate modern culture, knowledge, and innovation: the theater, the museum, the library and the vacuum cleaner showroom. Here the monuments of civilization and material culture are abandoned, in a state of decay and ruin, with natural elements such as plants, insects, and animals beginning to re-populate the spaces. This idea of paradise lost, or the natural world reclaiming itself, becomes more forceful as we face greater environmental challenges in the world around us,” says Nix.

Through her series The City, Nix comments on modern urban culture and the reckless lifestyle we lead as a part of it, “especially as we affect the natural world. I think nature is close to a breaking point and we may not be able to engineer and scientifically fix our way out of our mistakes,” she elaborates.

Although never having been interested in putting humans in her work, the few times Nix has included them; they’ve played a small part or are barely noticeable, “if I were to create a diorama with human figures, they would most definitely display our less than heroic sides of human nature.”

“I find inspiration in several places,” says Nix, “for my earlier bodies of work, my childhood spent in the rural farmlands of the United States was the subject. In this part of our country, the only thing that provided me entertainment during the extreme weather conditions were

the disaster films of the 1970s,” she continues. “I have been living in New York City for the past twelve years and have found inspiration in everyday living. The architecture, the culture, even the rats have provided me with plenty of material to draw upon.” Nix is also constantly inspired by the work of other photographers; she often buys their books and follows their careers. However, most of her imagery comes from her own imagination, with a little help from researching on Google.

“ I have chosen the spaces that celebrate modern culture, knowledge, and innovation: the theater, the museum, the library and the vacuum cleaner showroom.

Nix has been working on The city since 2005 and still finds it fascinating, “I’m going to continue this until I grow bored with it,” she says, “which could be in a few years, or another decade.” While working on The City, she has been exploring other ideas, Nix has a black and white series called Unnatural History that takes a humorous look at the behind the scenes shenanigans at a natural history museum, “I started this in 2009 and continue to work on it between color work. It keeps my skills honed and focused on photography.”

The World’s Smallest Gallery, One2Fifty.com

Soura Magazine — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 16:08:02 +0000

The only way to thoroughly appreciate most artwork is in person, however this is easier said than done. Here I am experimenting with some ideas to visually represent my work across the web. In the 1:50 gallery, I am attempting to reflect the overall finished size of my work on a 17 inch computer screen. Here I am experimenting with some ideas to visually represent my work across the web. On the 1:50 gallery I am attempting to reflect the overall finished size of my work on computer screens, tablet devices and smart phones.

My images are normally between two and three meters wide, which can cause difficulty when trying to show the scale in certain situations. By reproducing my large format work on a scale of 1:50 and placing it in a virtual gallery with people scaled to size to represent the average viewer, I hope to impart the sheer scale and size of the images. Whilst I acknowledge the best way to view art is in person, I also recognizes, for my work, this isn’t as easy as it sounds. The very nature of my work scale plays an important factor: hanging the images in the wrong space, either too big or too small has a detrimental effect on, not only the image, but how the image makes you feel.

Galleries spend a great deal of time and money on trying to get this aspect right and this started me thinking about how I could create the most perfect gallery to hang my work, and also to show the actual size and scale of the work in relation to the people viewing it. With One2Fifty.com I’ve scaled everything down from three meters to seven centimeters in an attempt to reflect the overall finished size of my work on a computer screen.

I have been pondering this issue for many years now and hope that by scaling everything down and using architectural scale figures, which are 36 mm tall you can better visualize the overall scale
of my finished work.

In an exclusive interview with Soura Magazine, David Anthony Hall shares with us his vision, his process, and the idea behind One2Fifty.com

What first attracted you to landscape photography?

I’ve always had a strong connection to the land, in my childhood we would regularly go hiking, camping, hunting and fishing. As a teenager my interest lay in the monuments and scars man has left on the landscape, I would visit ruins of all shapes and sizes and wonder what the story was behind them. When I graduated from art school I worked as a still life photographer, I had total control over my subject in some ways it’s a characteristic of the human condition to want to be in control. This ultimately brought me back to the land. I have no control over nature and I accept that. I have to work closely with the elements and it gives me a huge sense of accomplishment and fulfillment when by luck, intent or design I find myself in the right place at the right time. It gives me the feeling that the elements are working with me supporting me in my endeavors.

Is your work in large format panoramic images an attempt to capture the vastness of the landscapes you photograph?

Yes, but also it demands attention in a very obvious and yet simple way. The scale of my panoramic images aims to stop people in their tracks, to capture ones peripheral vision when viewed from a distance compelling the viewer to take a closer look and then on even closer to pick out the finer details. With this three-stage approach it has been suggested I’m creating a window for the viewer and inviting them to climb through. As an artist I try to capture a single moment that inspires feelings of a lifetime. I want my photographs to portray the very essence of a place and evoke a journey that creates a sense of something more. When I photograph a location it is because I feel a strong emotional connection to the place. I witness the strength; feel the frailty or simply the serenity of nature. In modern day society, it is easy to lose touch with nature in its simplest sense. My work constantly reminds me of how fleeting our presence actually is on the planet, but also why we must embrace it so.

For someone who is passionate about space and history and monumental-size trees, what drew you to shrink your work by a scale of 1:50 to create the smallest large format print gallery?

By exploring the relationship between large format print, photography and the Internet, I finally solved how to best visualize the overall scale of my finished work on the web. I have some grand plans to do some really huge public art pieces; this year’s concept garden at the Chelsea Flower Show is the first step on that road. I have a personal ambition to cover a London Underground platform from end to end with some of my woodland images and the only way I’ve been able to visualize what the final installation might look like was to scale the images up and superimpose them onto pictures of the underground. It was during this process that I realized my ambitions to go really big resulted in the opposite: working for the World’s Smallest Gallery.

What role does the Internet play in the world’s smallest large format print gallery?

Exquisite, quite simply the One2Fifty gallery is the perfect place to best show my work online. It’s the perfect gallery, bright, open, clean lines, crisp with lovely smooth walls on which to exhibit my artwork. There are very few actual galleries that are as well suited! The Internet adds another dimension in that it makes my work available to everyone worldwide who has a smart phone, computer or tablet device. I’m constantly looking to the future looking for ways to exhibit my work so that more people can see it and enjoy it. As I’ve gone from group show to art fair to better art fair and solo show to solo show I find better opportunities opening up. I find my work in better spaces in better galleries so the work is being exposed to more and more people.

Public exhibition is very much on my agenda, I realize that the prices my work achieve coupled with inflation has excluded the majority
of the population from owning on of my pictures but that shouldn’t mean people can’t view and enjoy my work. I did a bit of research just now and I’ve estimated that with 40 art fairs 22 group shows as well as multiple solo shows my work has been exposed to a potential audience in the region of half a million people across 14 countries. By comparison my online presence connects me with a further 137,000 potential art lovers.

Is there a message behind the world’s smallest large format print gallery?

I get dizzy when I think about the earth as it spins round the sun, tilting on it’s axis causing the seasons and the moon orbiting the earth causing the oceans to ebb and flow. I get even dizzier when I consider the universe and the hundreds of millions of years since the ‘Big Bang’ or the three million years since Bipedal apes walked upright and the mere seventy thousand year since Homo Sapiens began showing signs of abstract and creative thought.

How is it that we can casually talk about time in terms of billions of years? We can quite nonchalantly mark time in millennia, centuries, decades, years, yet it’s the hours, minutes, and even seconds that our existence comes down to in the end. I relive these significant hours, minutes, and heartbeats in the places where I make my pictures.

Will the One2Fifty.com project be an ongoing work?

Yes indeed I have been looking at doing some major building work adding a new wing and opening up the gallery to other artists to put on their own solo shows with a 3D interactive ‘walk through’ navigation experience so watch this space!

What will you be working on next?

My work is ongoing this is what I do and I love it. I try to steer clear of project based work or photo-essays. I don’t want to politicize or dramatize my photographs. However I would like to continue to push the technical boundaries of the medium of photography, as the sheer size of my work increases the natural development is to move outside, I’m working on a couple of installations in hospitals and hospices where the aim is for my pictures to have a positive effect on the staff, visitors and most importantly the patients. One such project is set to be the largest public display of my work and will be my most significant achievement ever! Studies show that nature based art has a beneficial effect on relieving a patient’s stress and anxiety and I’m fully committed to using my work in this context.