A very good friend of mine whose hobby is into photography asked me to take a look of his latest artwork called “crossover” and later was asked to give an honest opinion about it. I have no special interest in photography but I could easily tell if a particular photo is something extraordinary or something monotonous to the eye.
And yes, the artwork is indeed extraordinary! The photo was in black and white and partly was ‘digitalized’ in a way that it appears like it has been sketched then painted and yes it was a little bit distorted using a combination of good editing techniques to bring out the effect of the salient movement of the theme. It’s a photo of a woman with curly hair, bright almond eyes and lips that resemble Angelina Jolie’s who appears to be coming out from a densely thick bush of trees.
The ‘crossover’ once shown to an ordinary man might view it as a black and white photo with a little touch of Japanese art called “Anime”. It’s a little bit confusing at first upon seeing the photo of that ‘crossovered’ woman for it illustrates some kind of artwork but seems difficult to exactly pinpoint what made it. To an ordinary man, it is still no doubt a black and white photo.
To a photographer, he might view the ‘crossover’ as a creative technique of enhancing the subject to a higher level where the attributes of an excellent photo is out of the question, instead, adding movement to the subject with the aid of ‘digitalizing’ that affects the whole thematic sense of whatever product of a photo shoot. Simply stated, one can be challenged how to modify what is seemingly a very good photo to make it appear even more a ‘very good’ photo. The ‘crossovered’ woman is a product of creative editing techniques and so to a photographer, though it defies the true nature and essence of photography, might find it an intelligent attempt to bring photography to its next echelon.
To a literary man like me, I define the ‘crossover’ as a photography technique in bringing the theme of death to life, from negative to positive, chaos to peace, hideous to beauty and vice versa. When I first saw the ‘crossovered’ woman, I readily combined all three understandings I know of from being an ordinary man, a tepid enthusiast to photography, and a story teller. I knew that what I was looking at is a product of photo shoot but I was quite skeptic for it appeared to be handily sketched by looking at the ‘crossovered’ woman’s body, and more I thought that her native-like exotic face was perfectly painted. But the background which was surrounded by branches of leaves appeared to be distorted…digitalized. The lightings were still there which were carefully handled and untouched while a circular of grayish brushed-like paint also added to the movement of the theme. I saw the movement of dryness from her body that escalated to a shimmering beauty of a woman perfectly seen in her face…the eyes that sparkle…the lips that allures…and the curly hair that accentuates her beauty.
The technique of ‘crossover’ photography as my good friend explained could bring endless ideas of making one’s interest in contemporary photography even more challenging and exciting. And I believe he’s right. The challenge still remains on figuring out the array of themes and subjects, combination of colors and proper lighting, and options of movement and space that best defines what crossover is all about.
JOSE MARIA TAN'S CROSSOVER:
Please visit Mr. Jose Maria Tan’s photos at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/josetanphotography/
