For my final project I chose to study and emulate Arno Rafael Minkkinen. There are a few things that drew me to his style of photography. When I personally look at one of his photographs, the first thing I try to figure out is how he took it. That interests me more than anything else at first. He doesn't use Photoshop for his work, so what you see when you look at his photos was all done in one shot, not a combination of shots or cutting and pasting of shots. There is something really pure about just taking a picture. Nothing else. Just taking a picture.
The photo that makes me think and wonder the most is the one of three fingers that look almost like they have been cut off from a hand and stacked into a small pyramid. The image pulls you in and keeps you trying to figure out how he made three fingers look as though they were detached from a hand. He creates many different types of photos, but the almost illusion-like photographs are the ones I want to emulate. I hope to never use Photoshop when trying to get an image and keep the pictures pure and untouched by anything but the camera.
I’m also drawn to Minkkinen’s preference for black and white photography. I think using black and white makes the photo look more timeless. Black and white also makes you look more at the subject and less at the colors or how “real” the image looks. It’s another example of how pure Minkkinen’s work is.
Minkkinen uses a lot of nudity in his photography, which I probably won’t do. But he takes a lot of his pictures outdoors and in some risky places, and that’s something I definitely want to emulate. I do a lot of hiking and rock climbing, so I should have some opportunity to take pictures from high places.
For my research, I will use Minkkinen’s website, as well as a few books from the Sherman Art Library at Dartmouth College.
Bibliography
Minkkinen, Arno Rafael, and A. D. Coleman. Saga: the Journey of Arno Rafael Minkkinen. Chronicle Books, 2006.
Minkkinen, Arno Rafael, and Michel Tournier. Waterline. Aperture, 1995.
Minkkinen, Arno Rafael. Body Land. Motta, Federico, 1997.
Minkkinen, Arno Rafael. “HOW TO WORK THE WAY I WORK.” Arno Rafael Minkkinen - Interiors and Exteriors, 2005, www.arnorafaelminkkinen.com/intro.html.
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