Martin Schoeller

I would like to start off by saying that sumble upon is amazing for finding me this photographer, Martin Schoellar. I just spent the last hour looking at as many of his images as I could find. He's an amazing photographer. He's photographed everyone, and when I say that I mean it. The list includes but isn't limited to Marylin Mason, Eminem, Prince, Barack Obama, Jack Nicholson, Brittany Spears, Christopher Walken, and it goes on and on. I feel like I've seen his work somewhere but I can't remember. I'll start this rant about him at his series entitled "Close-Up". The series is probably based around hundreds of different people in the exact same lighting situation. Which seems to look like clam lighting on each side instead of from above and below. In all of the images the people in them seem to have heavy lidded eyes and are trying to focus in completely on the camera. I really enjoy this series because of how simple it is. The lighting is really simple along with the contents of the frame. It's just a straight on portrait. These closed in angels really give the chance to examine people without having to interact with them at all. There is no excess information other than the face and little of the shoulders. The way he presents the series in a gallery is by making them extremely large prints and hanging them in simple frames. By doing this you're confronted with simple yet intriguing portraits of people that look familiar to you.

 Along with the "Close-Up" series he's done alot of commerical work. Most of the images have some hint at irony in them. Which is extremely enjoyable because you can tell that he's still trying to make his work fun for himself. One of my favorite images of his commercial work is an image of Puffy Daddy/ P. Diddy/ Diddy. The thing that makes the entire image for me is the fact that in the reflection of the mirror is the painting. I think it's extremely important for a photographer to still be able to convey a meaning within their work even if they're doing primarily commercially based work. For me the image is saying that Diddy puts on a persona and he see's that persona in the mirror. He feels he can't drop it at any time or else something will go wrong. I could be way off base with that observation but I believe that this is what is being hinted at. Another image that I really enjoyed is this image of Mike Myers doing weird things that I would not be surprised if he did them on a regular basis. I love the contradicting pieces of the image. The fact that he's wearing a suite and then just has some ducks chillin' in the sink helping him with the dishes is just hilarious to me. Like I said before a lot of the images have a bit of humor to them. When creating extremely staged portraits around certain people I think it's important to keep them not as serious. There's also an image of the guy who plays Gob from Arrested Development a.k.a one of the funniest shows ever. He's just sitting on the floor eating cereal playing video games. I think that's a testament to not having to have something extremely elaborate set up in order to create a brilliant photo.




The last series that I'm going to rant on about is his series entitled "Female Bodybuilders". I won't go on and on about it other than to say it's fascinating to look at. When looking at the images of women going to completely different extremes then is socially accepted I don't quite know how to feel about them. The whole series is of women who are totally built the same way that some women feel men should be. A thought comes to mind when contemplating this, if these women appear to be physically stronger does it cause a problem with the men in their lives? It shouldn't of course but we all know that most men need to feel like the stronger person in a relationship. Because don't you know women are "weak". Anyway I think this series speaks more for itself than some of the other ones because of the fact that it's hard to approach. Even just looking at the images makes me feel intimidated and nervous.

I keep trying to avoid typing what comes to mind when looking at these images. "Would be beautiful". I feel like a jerk for thinking this. What makes them not beautiful now? Absolutely nothing, it's all about making yourself happy and looking the way that makes, you , yourself feel beautiful. It shouldn't matter how I feel about the way you look or anyone else. I really enjoy these because of how much thought they have the ability to evoke. Unfortunately it seems that this is definitely not the work he is most known for. And sadly it's probably because "Close Up" is mostly featuring celebrity's and for some reason our country is obsessed with them. I think this series compared to the other one is much more brilliant even though they both have the same basic composition and lighting set up.



Well, I don't know if anyone actually read this whole thing or not but if you did thanks!