Plato once conceived of his “Realm of Forms” as existing on the other side of the sky, where the ideal template of every worldly form is created. Human perception has the ability to recognize two aesthetically different objects sharing the same form, while simultaneously understanding them as the same objects with varying traits. These distinguishable variations descend from the true ideal form of the object in the realm of forms, and the natural reproduction of the object is merely a shadow of the objects ideal form.
The photograph is itself a shadow; an object represented by another object. Through the process of technological reproduction, photographs void the image of any historical context and consequentially subject its viewers to their own personal experiences. The photographs we consume as truth detach themselves from a stable reality. The only truth is the record of the camera; no other means of representation is comparable to the detail and fidelity it offers. The product of the camera is the irrefutable evidence of light that existed at one point in time. This quality allows photography to be regarded as an ideal form of representation of space. Geometry offers similar concepts of the ideal. A perfect circle can be imagined, but can be neither produced by the human hand nor does it exist in nature. Photography and geometry share this trait of ideal representation that is in fact intangible.
Through the use of large format film, I am presented a means in which to combine the aesthetics of photography and geometry, while still maintaining the formal aspects of the photograph. The utilization of 35mm offers a different approach: documenting forms in the natural world. This photographic practice allows me to explore physical and visual space in a quest for alternative means of perception.
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