the work of jordan ewert
wirtten April 26th, 2009 In 2005 I got my first digital camera, I shot everything I could that looked "cool" or "interesting." I started shooting glamour / model photography right away. Perhaps it was an excuse to talk to pretty girls or have an excuse to hang out with them. However, that changed and I took it seriously shortly afterwards. I continued shooting glamour / model photos for the next two years, only just recently have I decided to stop. Throughout my education and study I have realized that pretty pictures alone do nothing and solve even less. There is no investigation or puzzle. Looking back at those images (and few there are I've bothered to keep) I don't know why I wanted to take them. Looking back I feel little satisfaction for the photographs I took. Below are just a few of my more successful modeling shots. These were more of a trial & error and I really believe that a lot of these successful images from 2006 were just luck and some skill in photoshop.
Throughout 2006 and 2007 I took pictures of a lot of my friends. I was, however, primarily concerned with model and glamour photography with hints of sadness.
I continued to take images and get more understood in photoshop. Photography for me started as an excuse to be anti-social and still social at the same time. I could be in my own world behind the camera. Below are some examples of some early photoshop experiments.
I took Sculpture class at UW Stout in the Spring of 2007 and through much inner struggle I just now am starting to understand. The teacher I had, Lars Jerlach, challenged me more that I wanted to be challenged and I hated it. But now that time has passed I really am thankful that someone did that for me.
My photography in late 2007 bloomed. It was in this year my feeling of inadequacy pushed me further. There is no feeling like that dreaded sinking feeling that you may be left behind and have nothing to show for yourself. The first thing I did in early 2007 was develop more and more modeling photography. I was fascinated with female beauty and wanted to contrast it with a rough background quality. It was this contrast that I found enticing, even more than the women in the photographs themselves. I started asking friends to model for me in the past but now I was getting people I didn't even know interested from modelmahem.com, a website for models and photographers.
I was commissioned to do two fashion shoots for some of the interior designers by Katie Shay in the Spring of 2008, a friend and one of the models for Justine Harris's line of clothing. April Ashleson was the other collaborator during this time. These pictures gave me confidence and some great experiences in poses and angles.
During the summer of 2008 I began expanding my services and looking for models. I juggled between this and more friends of mine during the summer with no real goal in mind but to just see what happened. There were a few exceptional photographs taken.
I quickly grew bored with model photography, I felt like I was
becoming a tool or something. I felt like I was taking advantage of During the Fall of 2008 in Painting class I again found myself asking a new set of questions. My teacher, Tamara Brantmeier influenced me on thinking further. I was also challenged, for what seemed like the first time, on my "originality" from several students. These student's were all sculpture majors. It was also in this year I took up web design on my own and created this website, undoingautumn.com. I had a sudden burst of inspiration and shot my series "Bound Like an Animal" one night in a friends spare bedroom. This series deals with bondage and was my first series that dealt with sexuality directly.
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The last model shoot I did was in October of 2008. It was the most successful on the terms of portrait photography goes for me. The model was Jayne Marie. After this photo shoot I didn't shoot for almost two months but instead kept revising my website.
It was three days before Christmas I took my brother and his friends and created the series "School's Out for the Summer." It was in this shoot that I created my first narrative regarding a serious theme of high school violence and bulling. I was inspired by the movie "Elephant" from the night before. It was the day after Christmas I snuck into the mall and photographed some of their mannequins after the mall was closed. This ongoing theme of mannequins was inspired by Andrew Liles, an experimental musician, and his album "All Closed Doors." I felt passion again for photography.
I decided the toss out every image that had no point. I decided to categorize them based on what theme they could portray. This is one of the smartest moves I ever did because based on this move I've essentially locked myself into doing series exclusively. It's like shooting a movie, writing a song, or painting something. You have to have a plan. Ever since that day in the high school with "School's Out for the Summer" series I have never gone shooting photography blindly with no intention. In January of 2009 a fire burned down three storefronts in my hometown, Austin, MN. I had some friends inform me that night to "get the hell over here and take some pictures." One of my best friends, Marissa Ide, informed me of this as did my father. 20 min's after Marissa's phone call I was on the road to take these pictures, not knowing what to expect. I arrived that night and began shooting. However, I was stopped by the police and couldn't get close enough to take any worthwhile pictures. I went back the next morning and got the pictures that are now in my "Through Hell for This" series. The combination of fire and ice created a surreal effect. This was the first set of images that I enhanced as much as I did.
A week later I began an investigation of heightened sexuality in my series "Candy Lips" as well as an investigation into digital painting. This series, for me, was a step forward in themed work, however obvious the message may be.
In February I shot "This Charming Man," which was not my own idea but the idea of a local filmmaker Dan Moen about murder. I changed the context of this and made my first photography "video" with music and additional text into a short and somewhat interesting study of murder.
The next month I shot "Beauty Queen / Trainwreck," which is about a woman trying to maintain her youth at all costs. These images, up to now, took the longest to publish because each one was hand painted in Corel© Painter.
In April I shot "Survival and Replication" and "Part Monster" which are two of my most offensive and obscene image series to date. They deal with rape and homosexuality, respectfully. These are by far my most controversial photographs.
I plan on developing my images further and attempting more elaborate photo shoots. I wish to become "less obvious" in my work. I plan on studying sculpture and trying something new. There are several photographers who inspire me... These are just the top four at the moment. ---- |
