Yesterday, I added yet another commitment to my plate. I began working for San Francisco based photographer Michael Light as his studio assistant. I was honored when he contacted me asking if I might be interested in the job. I took the position not so much for the extra income but because I felt that I could learn a lot from him in regards to running a studio and navigating the art world. Michael has completed projects comprised of images that he has shot, as well as, large projects of found imagery, most notably 100 SUNS and Full Moon. He creates photographs that explore the classic notion of the sublime in the form of aerial photography. He actually flies his own 600 pound airplane over the areas he wants to photograph and then shoots the images with a 4×5 camera. As I looked over a recent catalog that he produced for his current exhibition at the Nevada Museum of Art I was surprised at the variety of images. I guess I had sort of equated aerial photography primarily with surveillance and that sort of aesthetic. However, the photographs I saw in the catalog varied from classic landscape to beautifully abstract imagery. It was interesting to realize how scale became a tool for abstraction in relation to how high above the ground he was when he took the photographs.

 

Another interesting thing about Michael’s process is that he seems to envision his projects in terms of books. Yes, he has wall mounted exhibitions in museums and galleries but as he told me during my interview he feels that books ultimately open a photographers work up to a larger audience. Most anyone can purchase a book of work if they want to and then they can enjoy that work however and whenever they might choose.  His books also vary from large runs such as his work with found imagery of atomic explosions for 100 SUNS, which has been printed in 19 editions world wide, down to small editions of very large books, which I will be working on in house.