I met Maya several years ago when I was shooting her senior fashion show collection at CCAD. When she me post some images from my trauma series she reached out and asked to participate...
Read MorePrint Sale
Print sale! I have a bunch of 8x10” prints that need a new home. $50 shipped (US only)…
Read MoreLiquid Color
This was a fun little test shoot with Jona. For some of the frames I projected video footage onto her and made multiple exposures. Other frames I used a pulsing, multicolored LED and had Jona do the moving. There was an element of control and chaos in each scenario, and all of them led to discovery and delight.
Read MoreWilted Flowers, Crumpled Leaves, and Other Pretty Dead Things
We had a bouquet of flowers on our dining room table for the last two weeks, and it had been dead for easily half that time. When I finally got around to tossing the dead flowers I caught myself and decided instead to bring them to my studio to photograph. Though I’ve been photographing flowers and plants for years I’ve never thought to document them after their prime. I added in some dead leaves from one of our ailing house plants to round out my decay study. I enjoyed these studies so much that I may begin a new series around it.
Read MoreStrata VIII
I’ve shot with rubber cement half a dozen times now, each time slightly changing not only how I apply the material to the plexiglass but also how I light it and process the images in post. Though I’m getting closer to what I’m going for in this series, there are still so many variables to explore with this material. Over the past year I’ve experimented with shooting through a range of substances and materials to get more painterly or sculptural results, titling the series Strata. You can view my other texture explorations here.
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Gilding Lilies
I’ve never been especially fond of flowers. Don’t get me wrong— they’re pretty and everything, but I don’t stop to smell them, much less know their names. That said, flowers make wonderful subjects. They sit nice and still and always put on a great performance as I take my time fiddling around with lights, gels, and camera settings. Though I suppose any inanimate object would suffice for testing, I find flowers to have a human-like qualities to them. They have a face, a neck, and elegance for days. That’s not to say they’re an easy subject. They don’t bring anything to the table, save for their looks. They don’t have a range of dramatic poses or expressions or wardrobe changes. When working with flowers as a subject you only get out of a shoot what you put into it…
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One Man's Trash...
This marks my third shoot with Melissa this year. Though she now lives in NYC, she was in town for the holidays and asked if I’d be interested in doing a plastic-themed shoot. In preparing for the shoot sent me a few images from a recent Vogue Portugal fashion story that implemented single-use plastics into their shoot. I really enjoyed how they repurposed trash into the creation of something new and beautiful. I knew that I would want to take a different approach to the idea by capturing the texture of the materials and experimenting with creating more abstract portraits, and so I asked Melissa to “rescue” a range of plastic from her life over the next week and bring a range of options with her to the shoot…
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Creative Portraiture Workshop Tour
I am excited to announce that I am doing a 3-city tour of my Creative Portraiture workshop in January! These are two-day, hands-on workshops that focus on creating experimental and innovative imagery. Students will work with a range of models to create both “studio” and environmental portraits. There is currently an early bird discount running until the end of November. For more information go to https://www.nickfancher.com/workshops. I’m excited to make art with you!
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Time and Temperature
Slow Hands
In my shoots I aspire to capture something beyond the outer appearance of my subject, and yet it can be quite hard to look past the specifics of a subjects appearance to get a glimpse of their soul. This is why I like to photograph hands. Not only do I find hands to be as expressive as faces, but they come with the added bonus of not being about any one person in particular. They are more universal in that way. As a viewer, you can more easily put yourself in the image, connecting the struggle or aspirations of a gesture.
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Strata VI
With these latest Strata portraits, I have started to do partial oil applications, leaving larger portions of the subject visible. I have used a number of application techniques such as blotting with my fingers, blotting with a paper towel, or smearing with a paper towel. I can’t deny how heavily these are influenced by the work of painter Henrik Uldalen. I also started giving the images a cyanotype treatment in post, which I really like. I think it gives the images an older feeling. My aim is for these portraits to not feel like they are from a specific time or of a specific person, but rather capturing a mood or feeling.
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Strata I
This past month I have begun working on a new series, the working title being Strata. I am dealing with obscuring my subject by shooting through a range of different materials. Though I am still early on in the exploration and not sure how exactly it will evolve, my goal is to capture the nature of humans at a spirit level, rather than make portraits of a specific person.
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