Through the looking glass

James captures a series of portraits distorting the natural human form using a series of glass refractions

The first camera I ever used professionally was the terrific Canon FTB 35mm film SLR, manufactured in the 1970’s, the decade when I started my career.

These broken refractions were taken with the Canon EOS 5DS R, using a Canon EF 180mm f/3.5l macro lens, but I did also use my Canon EF 24-70 f/2.8l for some, both of these lenses are great for studio portraits.

My endeavour has been to create photography as art, dispelling the notion that with a camera, at best, you can only artistically record subjects. A piece of film, or a file, is my blank canvas on which to create. In this way, I blend my love of photography with my passion for art. The process of my explorations and experimentations have been considered an analog bridge to the new digital age.

My projects, mostly pre-visualized, take months, even years to complete. This

Fragmented series, started in 2013 and has had the assistance of lovely Muse,

Jonie. She is a computer geek working out of Great Britain, and visits Florida annually, during which she gives me four hours of her time. In this case, it was near the end of November, 2019.

I began preparing for this precious four-hour-november window in June, purchasing all sorts of glass and acrylic shapes, pieces and tubes. I’d try different adhesives to place them on acrylic sheets or glass plates. For the tubes I used a mannequin, and for arranging the smaller pieces before affixing them, I set up a Barbie

The process of my explorations and experimentations have been considered an analog bridge to the new digital age

doll. This worked decently as a stand-in for Jonie, helping me work out the lightning and cut down on the time I needed to fine-tune everything when she was in the studio. Meaning, I could maximize the time I spent behind the camera.

There was a lot of experimenting, noting down lighting setups that worked, optics, apertures, distances, framing, and so on. I found tubular pieces did not work, other shapes did. One could note that this series offers far more, yet to be explored.

Ptolemy discovered the process of light refraction circa 130 A.D. There are many types, levels, and characteristics of perception. Influential artist, David Hockney, created his Polaroid photo collages to show that our vision is not static as most images depict, but that our eyes are constantly shifting over all we perceive.

Our eyes can a subject in many ways and these photographs explore an aspect of that by seeing through fragmented refractions.