Part of the series "Of Love." Shot at midnight in New York City, I used long exposures (ranging from 30 seconds to 10 mintues) to capture motion suggesting a passage of time. The intention of this technique being to picture the long lasting nature of love and how times can change, but affection stays constant. In this image, I intentionally fogged the film before development and used an aperture of f1.4 to capture a soft focus with shallow depth of field. The scratches on the image were achieved by using a less than perfect film scanner, but intentionally left on the final print. All of this was done in order to capture a feeling of roughness and uncertainty.
Part of the series "Of Love." This series pictures hearts in many places throughout New York City, showing them in different situations, but they always stay the same. In this image the hearts are resting against park chairs stacked for the night. Shooting directly into street lights gives an interesting lens flare that adds visual interest and the strong contrast between the shadows and highlights gives depth to the image. Like the previous image, the film was intentionally fogged before development to give a soft uncertainty, however the negative was shot at the much smaller aperature of f22, so a larger amount of sharpness was left in the image after being fogged.
Part of the series "Of Love." Picturing two hearts beside the road instruction "STOP," plays off the classic phrase "Stop in the name of love." This risks falling into cliche, however it is only suggested and is not explicitly said. In the top of the frame the idea of time passing is continued with several streaks of light crossing the adjacent road, achieved through a four minute exposure. The puddle in the upper right reflects these lights. The film was balanced for daylight, however the warm light of a flickering street lamp casts a warm glow over the entire frame.
Part of the series "Of Love." This image shows the most time lapsed of any image in the series. This was used to picture the idea of the heart staying constant as time passes. I chose to pull focus on the bicycle instead of the hearts, a subtle shift due to their relative position in the frame. This increased detail on the bicycle gives it emphasis, adding to the sense of movement in the frame.
Part of the series "Degradation." This three image series focuses on the degradation of a romantic relationship. As a relationship begins to decline, nothing seems amiss, but as the relationship worsens small events add up until the victim is emotionally naked, alone, and lost. This first image in the series pictures the victim in a place that is not far outside the realm of the usual. She is in a city, but not on a main street. Her position in the frame shows her vulnerability and alludes to the idea that trouble might be coming.
Part of the series "Degradation." This middle image shows the point at which it is obvious that the relationship has turned in the wrong direction, but it is not so far gone that it is futile to hope. The woman has become dirtier and less clothed, showing the abuse that the relationship has put her through. However, she is still in a city, not far from normality. The eyes, a common symbol for the soul, are still open showing that there is still hope.
Part of the series "The American Insurgency." This was the first time I had worked with live models. I had always captured the beauty of the found object and not created a scene. This was the first time I had previsualized and then transfered the image in my head to the piece.
Part of the series "The American Insurgency." Shooting this series was the first time I had worked in a studio with strobe lighting. Because I had worked with a production company in the past, I had experience with motion picture lighting, but I had no experience with lights where a change of placement could not be freely seen by the eye. It was a difficult shoot, however the results speak for themselves.
Part of the series "The American Insurgency." The series goes hand in hand with a poem, included in this portfolio, with the same name. In the poem I wrote of my growing dissatisfaction with the American political system and corporate control of the nation. I pictured the people of a hypothetical movement joining together, accepting each others’ differences, participating in rational discussion of the issues, and attempting to bring meaningful change. The people are from all walks of life and wear the gas mask as a symbol of their unity. The white background places them in an unspecified location to suggest the lack of bias.
The following poem was written in relation to the series "The American Insurgency," which appears in the portfolio section of this application. The poem at times uses the technique of appropriation, claiming lines from George W. Bush's post 9/11 address to Congress. The vast majority of lines are original.
Tonight we are a country awakened to danger
And called to protect freedom
All conventional methods have failed
No option, no choice remains
At this very moment
Civilian regiments are pledging allegiance
To a truly United States
The rich, the poor
The young, the old
In and out of the system
If one falls to the wicked hand of Bigotry
Hundreds more will reinforce.
Every member committed fully
In mind and soul to the goal
Peaceful resistance is their chosen weapon
Acceptance is their virtue
Responsibility is their aim
Independent thought is their victory
Fighting with the carefully placed pen
To free minds from oppression.
Hoping on hope that the ancient adage remains true
That the pen is more powerful than the cannon
They reject current dogma
And caustic fear bred in test tubes
Of the hollow halls of power
Power that demands violence
Playing the fiddle while the world burns
Though the people's pen scream no, no, no!
The movement shall remain hidden no longer
For they will not tire
They will not falter
And they will not fail
The mobilization has begun
The revolution shall proceed
Now every country
In every region
Has a choice
Fear not at all
It is clear,
That compromise is no longer an option
For the American insurgency has begun
I created this image after watching the documentary series "When the Levees Broke." The series revealed the traumatic effects of hurricane Katrina and its emotional aftermath. I was struck by the horror of the events, but was caught by a feeling of helplessness in my inability to aid those affected. I attempted to embody the emotions that the victims of the storm felt and put it into an image. The hood is an allusion to war prisoners because they experience many of the same emotions as survivors of trauma. The strong contrast and the vast portions of the image that are completely black give a feeling of depression. I also digitally added a transparency of a hurricane subtly into this area of black to give an abstract clue to the motivation of the image.
Part of the series "For People Not Profit." In the lead up to this financial recession, the Federal Reserve Bank of the United States and the Department of the Treasury were active in protecting parts of the economy. They bailed out banks and helped others find capital when sorely needed. However these efforts were undertaken not to help every American, but were done to protect the richest from falling out of obscene wealth. The people responsible for forming such deals were former high-ranking employees of the very financial institutions they were propping up. This series is shot for the people in power to remind them that financial institutions do not define America, but rather Americans define America. Low and middle class people are what makes America great and US financial policy should begin to follow their interests, not the interests of the rich.
This piece is a three shot panorama, however it was not shot like usual panoramas. I literally moved my body down the abandoned road, instead of rotating the camera on the axis of the film plane. This resulted in an odd shift of perspective in the forground and background. I merged the three images so that the midground would stay relatively normal. The result is a staggered image picturing an abandoned automotive shop in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. This was shot during a summer intensive program at Parsons the New School for Design.
Part of the series "For People Not Profit." This environmental portrait was taken in front of a firestation in the East Village in New York City. Originally shot on film and printed as a 16"x20" on darkroom fiber paper, this piece served as a focal point of my final exhibition for a summer intensive course at Parsons the New School for Design. It pictures a fireman standing in front of his station as part of a city initiative to bring the fireman into the community as symbols of security. I shot this image using a wide angle lens to make the image look unstaged and to give the viewer the feeling of being in the scene.
Part of the series "For People Not Profit." This is an environmental portrait of a worker on the Brooklyn Bridge. When I met him he was painting a sign on the pedestrian walkway. This was originally printed as a 16"x20" on darkroom fiber paper and served as a focal point of my final exhibition for a summer intensive course at Parsons the New School for Design. This piece was a challange to print because of its large dynamic range between the lows and highs. It was hard to strike a balance between heavily burning the sky and not making the image look unnatural.
Part of the series "For People Not Profit." This piece appears to have been shot at night with a flash, however, it was shot naturally during the day. By setting exposure for full sunlight and shooting into a dark warehouse I was able to achieve a flashed look. This piece served as a visual representation of American industry symbolizing the American labor force, the hard working men and women who make this country what it is. It is not the people in highrise office buildings that define America, it is the people toiling everyday in warehouses and factories to make the country function who do that.
This image was created at the end of a vacation in Acadia National Park. I had spent a week experiencing the beauty of the water and had fallen in love with the untouched nature. It made me realize the insignificance of a single person in relation to the massive scale of the natural world. I wanted to take these feelings and sublimate them into an image. That evening I took my camera to a dock and captured several images with this in mind. I had previsualized an image of depth that showed nature and man together in the frame. This image captured the scale of nature, as well as its depth.
In this image I captured a quintessential part of Italy, its cyprus trees. On my vacation in Italy I had been amazed by the beauty of both its architecture and nature, but what amazed me more was how well they integrated with each other. Unlike American cities, trees and plants were not lacking in the cities and towns of Italy. Italians lived side by side with nature. I captured my love of this particular species of tree in this image, using black and white instead of color to keep focus on the elegance of the tree’s form rather than on the color of the needles and sky.
This image is not part of a series and was taken during a visit to Vatican City. However, it is not simply a piece of travel photography. Mere feet in front of the Vatican, beggars sit asking for charity from tourists and the church does nothing to help them. Walking through the basilica, I saw the wealth of the church and I was disgusted. The institution has obscene wealth and yet they allow less fortunate people to weep directly outside the gates. I took this emotion and created this image at the alter of Saint Peter’s Basilica, capturing the beauty of the church, but giving it an eerie feel suggesting something is amiss.
This technical study of multipoint perspective, line, and shadow, truly challenged me as an artist. I had worked with multiple points of perspective before, however never with this many. Likewise I had worked with shadow before, but never with a composition that had this rsnge of contrast. The crank, for instance, was incredibly dark, while the rear wall was completely white. Both of these challenged my ability to create a sense of space in a two dimensional medium. Line was possibly the most challenging however. My personal style is to avoid line and focus more on value, but this image made that difficult. To truly display the detail in the image, I had to change my usual technique. After almost fifeteen hours of work, this was the result.
Part of a two piece study of tools. I used charcoal to capture contrast of the image. My charcoal technique is almost painterly. Once the major areas of the image are layed out I rarely touch the charcoal, but rather use hands, cloth, and erasers to move charcoal to where I want it. In this drawing I used value heavily to capture the gradation from light to shadows. This is a manifestation of my roots in photography.
Part of a two piece study of tools. I used charcoal to capture contrast of the image. My charcoal technique is almost painterly. Once the major areas of the image are layed out I rarely touch the charcoal, but rather use hands, cloth, and erasers to move charcoal to where I want it. In this drawing I used more line than in its brother image, but still heavily relied on value, showing my roots in photography.
Worlds Fallen by Uncle Chunky.
Produced, directed, lighting designed, and edited by Colin Wiencek
Review Mirror by Gene Gregory
Produced, directed, lighting designed, camera operated, and edited by Colin Wiencek
Personal Video Reel. All pieces directed, lit, and edited by Colin Wiencek.
All material on this site is © Colin Wiencek 2010.
contact me: cwiencek@muzykalnypictures.com