AIDS – Flower City Arts Center

Getting Back into the Darkroom

For several weeks now, I have been taking Mark Watts’ Go Retro with Film: Introduction to Photography class here at the Flower City Arts Center. I’m taking the class as I have a strong interest in working with film, however I have not worked in the darkroom in literally ages (literally). Getting back into the swing of working in the darkroom has been a real kick and has inspired some really interesting ideas for my AIR project. I don’t want to disclose too many specifics regarding the ideas, but I will be using tactics of processing and developing images in the darkroom to enhance the conceptual nature of my final show.

I want to share with you a little bit of the process we’ve been working with in the darkroom with a few images.

Firstly we develop the film and get images (negatives) that look like this:

From then I made a contact sheet to gauge which images I want to make full size prints of. They look like this:

After deciding on my final image: I took several tries and made a final print of it, enlarged:

In addition to this I want to share with you some of the things I have been up to recently. I just got back from NYC, where I met photographer Benjamin Fredrickson. Benjamin is a portrait photographer living and working in NYC who’s work concentrates on portraits of members of the LGBT community. Think a contemporary Robert Mapplethorpe (yes, NSFW.)

In addition to meeting this incredible photographer, who was a huge inspiration for this project, I went to the Whitney Museum of American Art. There was an exhibit I found particularly useful called “An Incomplete History of Protest: Selections from the Whitney’s Collection, 1940–2017.” Some of the art contained therein were works created about and during the AIDS crisis. I was moved by the exhibition and found a new energy in creating work for this project.

I look forward to updating you further on the progress of the project and be sure to look out for the classes I am teaching this upcoming semester. In addition if you are interested in private lessons, please don’t hesitate to contact the arts center and request me!

Over and out

Maxwell

The Studio

Hello Flower City Arts Center blog readers!

Last week I began my office hours paging through Nan Goldin’s book I’ll Be Your Mirror. Nan’s work has been a huge resource and inspiration as I start this project not only because of the rawness and truth of her work, but also because her work hits close to home with my project. She photographed a lot during the AIDS Crisis, and many of her subjects were HIV positive. I was quickly inspired by the images and became eager to get right into the studio posting to Facebook first to see who was available to sit in for portraits. I filled up my time slots quickly and began shooting in the Lighting studio here, mostly with the beautiful natural light.

The above image features a stand in I used to model the light while I waited for my subjects to arrive. I used the main window directly behind my tripod to illuminate the floor ever so slightly while I used a window to my right to illuminate the subjects left side. The key light was on my left pointed at the subjects right side. I used a tungsten light with the addition of a blue gel so the color of the resulting light matched daylight.

And then my subjects came.

I quickly realized I had set up for a single shot, and that wasn’t really what I was feeling like doing when my subjects arrived. I wanted to be less rigid. The above shot was of my first subject who posed near a window. I had him relax between poses and as I watched him roll his head around his shoulders to stretch, I saw this image and had him hold it as I adjusted my camera settings. Cheese was not said.

I have over the years configured an approach to posed studio photography that involves getting to know the subject during the photography session. This leads to a more honest portrait. The above subject met me in the middle to take an image that was both dramatic and dignified.

Both of the above images were taken while the lighting studio became occupied. I was interested at that point since all the daylight had gone away to experiment with controlled lighting in the studio but since it was occupied, I improvised. That’s what photographers do, and that’s a huge part of the fun.

Another fun thing about posing subjects is figuring out their energy. I firmly believe that the photographer uses the camera as a tool to collaborate. Every photograph I take is in someway a collaboration with who or what I am photographing.

I wanted to do a sitting session because, honestly, I’m out of practice. Shooting in the studio was never my favorite thing, as I found it quite intimidating, but as I’ve grown and gained new experiences, I’ve realized that the studio is nothing to be afraid of. Given the project I proposed will involve getting to know a subject, their story and using that story to inspire a portrait I want to make sure I am as prepared as possible when I begin photographing people specifically for the body of work I am creating.

Feel free to come visit during my office hours here at Flower City Arts Center: Mondays from 4-9pm, sign up for classes, and say hi to the wonderful staff and faculty here.

Maxwell signing off.

AIR Introduction: Maxwell Harvey-Sampson

Hello Flower City Arts Center blog readers,

I am very excited to be joining the Flower City Arts Center community as the new Photography Artist-in-Residence. Earlier this year I graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Fine Art Photography. That specific degree focuses in on the conceptual side of photography in the two years following our technical training.

I have covered a number of topics and spanned many media. I work a lot in the Queer community to produce works that regard identity and the complexities of contemporary Queer culture. In addition, I am frequently documenting youth culture, with a focus on candid portraiture. I have attached at the bottom a select bit of my work, as well as a link to my Behance page where you can see more work.

With this year long residency, I will be exploring the impact that HIV/AIDS has had on Rochester, NY. With this people focused body of work, I hope to bring awareness to a topic that many overlook through community engagement and photographic survey. I originally became interested in studying HIV when I came to realize how ambiguously my friends took care of their sexual health and how unsure they were about the ways in which HIV is contracted. I then began to realize and become curious about my own knowledge/ignorance on it as well.

As an out, biologically male, queer identifying man, I have long taken offense to my parents seemingly excessive warnings about getting HIV. It felt offensive that they would generalize and stereotype me. But, why be offended if I protect myself? These feelings have raised a number of internal questions and uncertainties regarding my identity as queer and male.

I am a part of a community that has historically been neglected by the government. I feel ignorant having not lived through the AIDS crisis. I feel I have little perspective as a 24 year old who has experienced many privileges mostly or entirely granted by the relentlessness and hard work of the LGBT people who have come before me. With this project, I aim to gain a better understanding of the ways in which the AIDS crisis shaped the development of gay rights in addition to sharing that information with the community.

Though my identity as a queer man has peaked my interest in researching HIV/AIDS, I do not intend on focusing solely on the experiences of LGBT people. Rochester is home to a diverse body of people. To the best of my current understanding, there are many communities that have been affected by HIV who are outside of the LGBT community that are also marginalized by the ruling body of our country. These people deserve a voice, and with the privileges I have been granted, I aim to be a vessel for that voice.

Our current political climate has also added complexity and threat to the lives of people who rely on healthcare. Through the intense study of the history of HIV/AIDS as well as engagement with the Rochester community, I plan on creating a body of work that will raise awareness.

I look forward to sharing my work and research with those following along on this blog as well as those who attend the opening of my show at the end of the year.

Maxwell Harvey-Sampson on Behance:
https://www.behance.net/maxwellharc729