the work of jordan ewert
written February 27th, 2010
I became busy with school again but I never quit photography. Most of the work after this was added to my open series. I was really trying to stay away from the whole modeling theme and go for deeper and darker concepts of anything that jumped out for me. Below is an example for an open series I have yet to complete (as of writing this) and need to develop more. The image represents the contrast between elderly and everyone else in terms of not only technology but the wearing away of your senses as age comes.
Capture the Moments (2009)
This was taken at my sister Adriel's graduation!
Part of my Mistaken for Memory series (not online just yet)
I continued to think about more series to work on. When I say "think about" I really mean taking note of what struck me as powerful in the moment, even if I did not understand or could explain it. This often happened randomly when ideas or brief insights inspired me while driving or socializing. This usually happened when I least expected it.
School kept me busy but I had a small break in which I could work on a series I could put together. I had this idea for awhile, but lacked the time and resources for it. I got help from two friends on this shoot, Brittany Waltz and Jay Plemmon. The idea here was to represent a relationship that lacked the ability to gain any momentum and was getting dulled by time. In response, drugs were offered to perform a counter measure and save the relationship.
You Bore Me Into Myself (2009)
My second scripted series.
Part of the Needles and Pins Make the Medicine Go Down series.
This series was pretty good but I really felt it could have been stronger. What few images I really could use for this series turned out exceptionally well for only shooting this in about 3-4 hours. I needed to plan better, I realized. Scripting a closed series wasn't enough and I needed to think about actual scene-by-scene story board ideas.
Breaking up this momentum happened when I was asked to shoot a friend of mine in the local theatre for one of her own projects. I turned this into a series after looking over the photos again.
#6 (2009)
Originally for a friends project.. I give all credit of the idea to her.
Part of my In Spite of its Ability to Lose Me There Still Remains a Sense of Familiarity series.
A collaboration effort took place from another one of my friends: Chase Sullivan. He was a good friend of mine when I used to go to Spring Arbor University in Michigan.
This was scripted and story boarded by myself off of Chase's short story. This was a creative effort and lot of this was improvised while creative energies and tensions ran high with late nights shooting. I was aided my my friend Brooke Ann Robaidek and my Sister, Adriel, along with Chase himself, who played the role of the antagonist.
Still #29 (2009)
This is a still-shot near the pinnacle moment.
Still from the video Newrostica Plasterfactious. You can view the video for this here.
After I got back from shooting this video series in Chicago, IL and Spring Arbor, MI I was craving to get some studio shots in my portfolio. This didn't happen for a few weeks...
My family moved to Michigan and I was still visiting them. When I got back I had more images than I cared to edit and go through. Some of the notable images from this trip were from the Henry Ford Museum's outdoor exhibit. The image below was taken when my brother and I snuck into one of the houses. Of course the blood wasn't there when I took this.
Faith Can Only Last so Long (2009)
Taken in Detroit, MI at the Henry Ford Museum.
Part of my Violence series.
It was less than one week after coming back home when I took some amazing pictures of fog one morning. I was really wishing I had purchased a newer camera by this time but could not miss this moment at something like 5:30am. If you were to ask me why I was up that early I couldn't tell you. I just woke up and looked outside for some reason that morning very early.
Roar of Slamming Doors and Lights(2009)
A very strange morning indeed...
Part of my Strange Spots series.
While I was putting more images together in post-production I spent more and more time on college campus. I began to take several portraits of people walking by. Here is the best example of that below.
I Back Burner(2009)
One of the best spontaneous portraits of someone I didn't know. The last picture I ever took with my Canon 20D.
Part of my Portraits series.
I had the idea in my mind for a series involving stabbing oneself with a syringe in the neck. Thanks for my friends Kaitlin and Michaela for helping me out with this one!
These were shot with my new camera, the Canon 5D Mark II (which is an amazing piece of equipment btw).
I Want to Close My Eyes so Badly(2009)
A studio test of a shot I wanted to try out.
Part of my Blue Hour series.
I finally found some work for a magazine, Prothos Media, in which I had to portray domestic violence between a Greek American male and female. The shoot went smooth, thanks to Tracy Charpentier's hospitality and playing the role of an abusive husband. Thanks as well to Alex Tuchel for playing great in this role as the submissive wife.
The Afterwards #2 (2009)
My first paid magazine shoot.
Part of my The Beginning of Something Never There series.
I began to do a lot more shooting with my new camera. Most of this was for fun. A school trip for the photo club I was a part of allowed me to travel in a group to St. Croix in MN and just take fun pictures.
Most Desirable Fall (2009)
Taken in St. Croix, MN.
Part of my Together in Cycle (nature) series.
I decided to step things up for real and actually do some photo-manipulation more so that I had done in the past. Of course, not every image was completely transformed but a higher percentage of them came out altered in a more dynamic way than simple color and curve adjustments.
The Last Night of the World (2009)
Taken in St. Croix, MN.
Part of my Nature series.
It was after I put these images up from the trip that I decided to bring in more digital painting and complex masking into my images. Taking a pretty picture was not the intent (usually) —It was soon more about the potential an image had and what I could do to it.
Dealing with more wedding photography and senior portraits I soon became burned out and took a small break, which ended up lasting about a month.
On my way back during my final semester at Stout, I decided to really step things up and concentrate solely on one project. The project was originally called Teenage Wasteland and was a combination of photography and digital painting. The title changed to Even Nostalgia Isn't as Good as it Used to be about half-way through completion.
A Million Miles Away (2010)
My first experiment in this series.
Part of my Even Nostalgia Isn't as Good as it Used to be series.
Drowning in Oxygen (2010)
Another example midway through the series.
Part of my Even Nostalgia Isn't as Good as it Used to be series.
After this series and my final full-time semester at UW-Stout I was ready to take another break. I knew I was onto something new and this series pushed me harder than anything else in the past. It gave me more questions than answers. I hit a wall and didn't know where to go next. I knew I could never go back to the strait-off-the camera and a few tricks in photoshop/lightroom again. I knew that I had to keep evolving and work on something at a deeper level. Questions of money haunted me in all waking hours. How can I make money doing this? How can I continue to devote all of this time now that I'll have student loans to think about...
Well, just as I was pondering this I was approached to do another commission glamour shoot, I wasn't too interested at first but felt that the line Katie Holm designed was quite impressive and that I could do a lot artistically with the images. We worked together, Katie and I, on locations. By some kind of wizardry of the universe I was having a family vacation in the Wisconsin Dells with my dad, mom, brother, and sister only minutes from our decided location.
Suffocation at Last (2010)
Taken in the Wisconsin Dells.
Part of my Glamour series.
The exerience of doing these "high fashion" photoshoots gave me a lot of confidence to continue pursuing it, at least in the back of my mind.
Even though my mind was racing with a million thoughts at once I came upon an opportunity to work with several models and some other photographers. We met at a fancy hotel and took turns working with several models. Everyone was there for glamour shots. I was there with the intent to use these glamour shots for another purpose. Seriously, do we really need any more glamour photography? I never asked this directly to them but how exactly does exploiting beauty for the sake of beauty alone make you feel fulfilled as a person? Don't you need more? I never went into photography originally to make money, I just wanted to tell stories and create some kind of impact.
But