In 2014 I began capturing individuals and couples laying in Central Park's Sheep Meadow and began printing them vertically and backwards. This seemed to heighten the mood of the subject, creating an almost anti-gravity detachment & surrender from chaos of the surrounding city. I never could relate to contrived portraiture, but I desperately wanted to find a way to capture people on film and in print with the perfection of studio shots. My intention with this project was to capture people in what I considered to be perfect unassuming poses (poses that could never be posed). I shot all of the images very close to the subjects while they were sunbathing or sleeping in Central Park’s Sheep Meadow (usually only a few feet away) and would simply wait for the moment when the subject appeared to completely surrender to their environment. Not having the luxury of communication with the subject, I was forced to be extremely patient in order to obtain the results I was hoping for. I hand make gold toned silver gelatin prints for all of the images where the surrounding grass is severely "burnt in" to isolate, and give the look of suspension to the subject. The majority of the images were created in central park’s sheep meadow, while a few were created in other small parks in the city. |