Thank you for visiting to learn more about LOOK At Me.
If I reached out to you via an app, I am especially grateful that you visited. Apps are not my preferred way of finding collaborators but I obviously do give it a shot from time to time.
LOOK At Me is a project originally begun circa 2010 which, now that I'm back in NYC, I am resuming.
Between roughly 2010 and 2014, I photographed over 130 young men most of whom I have met randomly on the street, subway, in coffee shops, and so forth. Now, in 2022, I look to resume the project but now with a more video centric approach with the intention of creating a film from the old and new.
LOOK At Me is a collection of portraits of young men who agreed to be photographed. I asked them to arrive unprepared, to sit three feet in front of a 50mm lens, to think silently about something with an emotional charge for them, and then to beam that out to me entirely through their eyes.
Each young man's portrait is intentionally similar, taken in a public place using available light, each face being composed to one side of the frame while the other side breathes within the surrounding environment. In this way, a stylistic conformity brings all of the young men together.
But in reality, as each face disappears into the next, the young men diverge radically with each broadcasting their own urgency, immediacy, and place within the universe. The young men are chosen for a boyish look and a projection of openness and vulnerability.
If I asked to photograph you, it is because I find your appearance and how you present yourself to the world to be quite striking. While it's not easy to put into words (which is one of the points of this project), this taps into something well beyond just your looks. Like most people, myself included, you are probably not conscious of how the world perceives you -- but I believe that we'll both learn a little bit more about ourselves if you choose to become part of LOOK At Me.
Now in 2024, the theme of LOOK At Me is evolving. I see it leading to a film that may be best described as my personal exploration of aging and the almost universal experience for the need of companionship. The project centers on the importance of attraction, perceived innocence and vulnerability of youth contrasted with the experience of lost opportunity, alienation, undesirability, disconnection brought on by growing old.
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For me, this is very much a personal journey. From the time I get the courage to hand you a card (similar to the one shown to the right) to the final outcome, I absorb youthfulness and explore aging, identity, and lost opportunity.
LOOK At Me is very much a collaborative project between the artist and the subject. When you are in front of the camera, I will suggest a simple technique that I've used over and over that I hope will help you feel like an active participant, not just a passive face.
The video portraits can be taken just about anywhere, inside or out. I am constantly looking for suitable locations. They just require space for your face and an out-of-focus area on one side or the other.
I'll ask to meet at a mutually agreeable time in a public place, like a coffee shop or park, usually in the afternoon, for an hour or two. It may be more or less time, depending how we feel about what we're doing. No special preparation on your part is required -- I prefer that you arrive just as you would happen to be on that day.
I have had a rule from the beginning not to financially compensate my LOOK At Me subjects -- but coffee and/or lunch is on me while we work, depending on the time of day.
In the past, I used a still camera. Beginning in 2022, I will be using a more video capable camera and a session will consist of one or more one minute video portraits. Still images are easily extracted from this video. I will find "the one".
Once I have had a chance to look over what we've created, I'm happy give you a few selected pictures for your Facebook, Instagram, etc., and make a print or two for you.
To learn more and/or to participate, please call or text me at 512-797-6389, or send an e-mail to ausdlk@gmail.com.
I am confident that this will be a positive and enjoyable experience for you. Thanks for your consideration.
Visit my DLK Photography home page.