By Matt McDermott

Here are Doug's own eloquent comments on how concept and camera blend in his art: "I am trying to understand how everything fits inside ‘nature’. As I look at these relationships through the machine of my camera many synergies emerge. Time becomes interconnected, doubled, tripled, between past and future moments. Spaces blend and develop into more transparent and complicated scenes. I manipulate the camera during the shooting process to create these ‘in-camera overlapping multiple exposures’."

Is the experience of photographing people, nature and the built environment qualitatively different for you? Do they require distinct technical and conceptual approaches in your work?

With each case the subject has it’s own unique impact on the experience of looking and composing my overlapping images. In organizing the resulting photographs into ‘categories’ I am making a distinction between each genre as somehow independent entities. Even though humanity and nature are intertwined in the most intricate ways, I feel a certain distinction has to be made if we are to have a future together.

Technically my shooting process is very similar for both, however conceptually they are treated in different ways. I photograph nature with a meditative and spiritual reverence. In doing this I am trying to celebrate natural forms and illustrate my wonder for nature’s complexity to my human peers. When shooting people and the built environment I am much more critical and judgmental. Although I love people, architecture, and the like, I try to be detached from the subject in a different way. I want to ‘disappear’ from the final image and just let the viewer into the scene in shooting either natural or built subjects.

What challenges does the photographer face when combining people with aspects of the built and natural environments?

Anytime I shoot people it is a challenge because I do not ask permission to photograph in advance. In city intersections and in crowded areas this can be quite difficult. I want honest reactions like we see in real life. Once people notice that I have pointed a camera at them in the street their expression changes. It would be impossible to ask each of these people in advance if I can take their picture! This is an important part of my process when photographing the human/built side of things.

I am intrigued by the reactions of people shot in this way around the planet. Also it is impossible to see and mentally process all of the visual information in all the shots at the time of shooting. Once back in the studio, with time to study the images on the light box, I see the individual faces and expressions more clearly. I vividly remember my version of the experience of shooting at this point and can compare that with the information and reactions captured on the film.

Is there a performative aspect to your image making?
In a way, yes. I am pushing myself into public and natural spaces and moving around in order to create the overlapping exposures that ultimately become final images. Each location/subject dictates a different movement or cadence. The variables here are time, motion, viewpoint, and amount of overlap. Sometimes I am doing a complex combination, but mostly I try to follow the subject and combine variables in ways that feel right with what’s going on at the time. The performative aspect is also related to the creation of perspective. During the process of creating the perspective I am also trying to blend in at the time of shooting and remove the sense of my individual perspective as ‘intermediary’ between subject and viewer in the final work.

How are your preoccupations with time and mortality reflected in your work? Are they present on purely a conceptual level or have they impacted your technique?

Time, spatial relationships, and repetition/cycles are linked together and worked out on a variety of visual stimuli. I like to look at what would happen if space and time were to collapse (or become more transparent between past and future). Some of these cycles are related to a human life span and some are about natural processes like waves or clouds. With overlapping the photographic instant I can extend the time of traditional photography. Part of the power of photography is that it is intrinsically about death or ‘past’; as such, my overlapping work is more like a fractured filmic narrative.

To what degree does post-production play a role in your photography?

The images are captured on film along the entire roll. Once I find the section that I’m interested in it is scanned on a drum scanner to a high resolution for output. It would be very difficult to print these images in an enlarger before the digital revolution. I use Photoshop on the images to prepare them for output. The final print is a Lambda C-print that comes from a digital file but is a light based printing process on color photo paper.

What inspired you to work in media other than photography? Are you addressing different content or content in a different way?

I like to use ‘any means necessary’ in making art. It’s all about exploration and fun to try out ideas in many forms or media. In my last show called ‘Cush’ I used sound, video and sculpture together with the photographs. My collaborators and I were able to represent the same scenes in various media, both in documentary terms as well as conceptually. Measuring the length of certain overlapping exposures provided a basis for the overlapping of wave sounds in multiple tracks while a video depicted these same scenes moving in real time (albeit slightly manipulated). An installation/sculpture froze the subject of a moving wave in mid crest, via a plastic medium (urethane). This is not so dissimilar to the process of recording nature with technology on tape or disk!

Your ongoing project 'Intersections' brings together your interest in globalization with the challenge of capturing images of diverse people and their varied built and natural environments around the world. How was this project conceived and what are your goals for it?

Intersections is a look at the human side of the equation around the planet. It concentrates of the form of bodies in motion within the context of the built environment at various global locales. This project is similar to the idea of Robert Rauschenberg’s Cultural Overseas Initiative (R.O.C.I.) or Edward Steichen’s Family of Man exhibit in some senses. Boundaries of time and space collapse along segments that show people in urban spaces literally blending together, melding into each other, and walking side by side without even realizing it. These photographs capture faces and gestures of individuals from all walks of life: old and young, Black and White, Asian and Latino, and everyone in between.

The World Bank defined globalization as the “increased integration” of economies and resources. Through this project, I want to question how that integration has translated into people’s relationships with their environment, with other people, and their own identities. The cumulative effect of documenting a wide variety of locations will provide visual comparisons between populous city centers around the planet and some remote places too.

The project was conceived during travel assignments and on personal trips. I plan to send out grant proposals, explore various travel arrangements, and create a more definitive itinerary soon. In 2007, I hope to have the sufficient funds needed to do a round of focused travel with the express purpose of taking these photographs.

Your upcoming exhibition, 'Etheria' [occurred fall 2007], combines photography, video and sound to explore the space-time continuum and our relationship with the Earth. How do you see this exhibition in relation to your previous work? To what extent is it a summation and to what extent is it a point-of-departure?

This exhibition delves into ideas of space, time, and perspective from the lofty view above Earth found during air travel. I shoot overlapping images of clouds, sky, sun, and the ground below from commercial flights and small planes. These images collapse space and time over themselves in varying segments of linear physical flight time. In addition to the photography, a sound piece will complete the installation at the Elmhurst Art Museum in August 2007.

Scientists, physicists, mathematicians, philosophers, linguists, and the like have many diagrams for the space-time continuum. This installation makes a new visual comment on our relationship with Earth, how we can get a sense of the scale of our planet, the speed of modern travel and the contemporary jet-set lifestyle, and ultimately our lives on the ground. It also alludes to the divine: the concept of heaven, the heavens, and the relatively short time span of human life. Air travel is one of the best means we have for attaining a feeling of our relationship with the globe. While in transit, one is given over to reflection about one’s own life and the fate of all the others below.

Etheria relates to the Intersections series in terms of air travel and globalization. It celebrates my love of natural elements without the human or built interference, however one must remember the images were shot from a commercial jet perspective with all the ‘baggage’ that entails (sorry for the pun). This is not a “summation of previous work” but hopefully a point of visual and intellectual departure!

What artists or photographers do you feel a kinship with in your work?

I appreciate lots of artists who manipulate the photographic medium. Some examples are Adam Fuss, Alfredo Jaar, David Hockney, Joel Peter Witkin, Sigmar Polke, Pipilotti Rist and many others. The more photography keeps gaining appreciation as an equal art, the more people will find new ways to touch the medium.

How do you feel about being a photographer working and living here in Chicago?

Life in Chicago is good though I do wish for and miss ocean and mountains (especially in winter). Having been born and raised in Chicago for the most part I am very familiar with the environment in this general area. I want to spend more extended periods of time in places with other varieties of plant and animal life. However the cultural diversity of big urban centers like Chicago keeps drawing me back. I have to live in a place where there are many kinds of people and many choices. So part of my art making process is to leave Chicago and then bring back the world on film. Chicago is a great place to be based.

What is coming up for you around Chicago (or the world) in 2007?

Etheria will be a solo exhibition at the Elmhurst Art Museum in August 2007. I’m working on two commissions to be completed this year, one at the McCormick Place West expansion and the other at the Bucktown/Wicker Park Library. Some of my architectural photography work is in a collaborative book project called ‘Graffitecture’ from http://www.front40press.com that will be released at Hejfiina in February and also featured at PS 1 in New York in Spring 2007 as part of the Fine Print Program there. And participating in a group edition project with http://www.deveningprojects.com this year that will be a blast. Looking forward to 2007!

Learn more about Doug's art
http://www.dougfogelson.com/