Photography Portfolio

Loved the idea of using photography to bring overshadowed perspectives to light. It’s interesting to consider that, through Cristina De Middel’s exposure of the men who pay for female sex workers, we confront misogyny, cultural differences, and double standards. The project echoes how capturing the uncommon can tell a story, almost like photojournalism. It also allows us to visualize the evolution of De Middel as an artist, considering Cole’s commentary on De Middel’s earlier project “The Afronauts” and how her “dismantling [of] clichés” received praise without accomplishing its original goal.

Peter Funch Sees the Patterns in the People on the Street

The portraits in “42nd and Vanderbilt” are labeled in quasi-scientific manner with the date and time they were taken. The first portrait of the tanned man with the white goatee, for instance, is captioned “2007.06.28 08:59:39.” The people photographed most likely could not say exactly where they were at that time or what they were wearing or what sort of look was on their faces. The photographer, having recorded these things, knows them all, while knowing very little else about the person photographed, not even his or her name. The caption for the second portrait of this pair reveals a particular surprise. While most of the image pairings in the book are indeed taken days or weeks apart, this one had a gap of more than five years between the first image and the second: “2012.07.03 08:54:01.” The subject has aged and is still himself.