For my personal interest project, I chose Wolfgang Tilmmans as my inspiration. After seeing his work at the Museum of Modern Art, I connected to his work more than any other artist we reviewed in class. His ability to capture portraiture is inspirational to me. As a visual artist, I have always taken interest in capturing people. I enjoy capturing the intimate moments experienced by the people I love. Although Wolgang’s subjects are not always people he is familiar with, I enjoy the manner in which he does portraiture. Sometimes, his subjects look directly at the camera. Other times, they are looking away, completely enthralled in their own world. But one thing stands true, all of his subjects seem comfortable, whether that is comfort with the photographer or comfort in their environment.
In my personal interest assignment, I took pictures of people I love. I chose to focus on my mother, my significant other, my best friends, and my coworkers. I think it’s common amongst all of the photos the level of comfort each subject has with me, the photographer. I took pictures of my mother in her most comfortable state, even if she didn’t want me to. I snapped photos of my friends with candid smiles on their faces. I captured every photo with love and admiration.
As a visual artist, I often draw and paint for people I love. By embodying Wolfgang Tillmans in this project, I translated my usual art form into photography. The inspiration also came from the fact that a lot of the people I captured in this project are the same people who admired Tillman’s work with me at the MoMa.
