Russel Kiehn
Artist Bio
RUSSEL KIEHN PHOTOGRAPHY PRESENTS
“SEMPRE”
/ˈsemˌprā/
Italian: always, from Latin semper
My task as an artist is to find other ways of seeing. The image that interests me is one that is often over looked, the one that is in plain sight. Finding the image can be unexpected and exhilarating. Like the grass that has cracked the pavement. I try to capture beauty in what others may consider trash and not worthy. Another place of interest has been the dialogue between the subject and the medium. Between what is shot and the technical process that will produce the final result.
Eliot Furness Porter (1901-1990) once said: ” A true work of ART is the creation of love. Love for the subject first and for the medium second.”
My current work presents the using of in-camera multiple exposure technique. I shoot a base exposure, then add another on top of that from something that I find at the same location if possible. I call them “textural’: like a peace of broken colored glass, a water stained wall, rusted iron, stones, anything that feels right and authentic. It is a little like climbing without a rope, a little scary, but when it works, it’s wonderful.
“NOSTALGIA” is an example of this kind of photo. I was standing on a bridge in Florence that summer evening, watching the day come to an end with the boats gliding in to the distance for my first exposure.The second one, the “textural” exposure was of a portion of a decaying wall that could not be designed better for my purposes.
