My brother Loren and I share a love of photography. During my Christmas vacation, I helped him make this instructional video on projected silhouettes for the FStoppers BTS 2011 competition.
Loren was inspired by landscape photographer Jim Sanborn who is known for projecting geometric patterns onto geological formations. Sanborn’s images use the contrast between the stark human-projected grid and the undulating terrain to create a sense of unease in the viewer. The gridlines feel like pollution or invasion, not enhancement. Sanborn wants us to think about how humans project our schemas onto the natural world, and what we gain or lose in the process.
The effect of Loren’s projections on the female form was strikingly different. The gridlines accentuated the curves of the model’s body. In the very best images, the grids read as part of her, not as something “artificial” thrown onto a “natural” form. Instead of alienating the viewer from the model, the way Sanborn’s grids alientate us from the landscape, the projected grids, sunbursts and pinstripes gave warmth and depth to what otherwise would have been very flat-looking silhouettes.
Loren wrote a piece of software to create the designs, which is available for free download. So, you can use this tool to make your own images.
I was the interview producer for the video.
The video is tasteful, but not safe for work.
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