Introducing on the Photographer's Showcase, Gabriela Herman and her portfolio
Bloggers
 |
| A Photography Blog -- Gabriela Herman |
Lit only by the light of their laptops, a series of solitary individuals gaze towards glowing screens. While each of these people are alone, they look into their computers with engaged eyes -- these are not the curiously blank stares of gamers. These are bloggers -- writers from The Gloss, Gawker, Funky Brown Chick, Scanwiches and many more. Herman's images emphasize the contradictory nature of the digital experience. These physically isolated individuals are the creators and caretakers of spaces for people to congregate and interact with a community. The computers are windows, portals to a world that expands far beyond the dark interiors in which the bloggers sit. They are connected.
It is through our screens, these beacons of light, that the world opens up and we become literally linked to one another. I began photographing bloggers with this idea in mind, giving the viewer a peek into their intimate worlds by using their screens as the sole light source. My idea was to start with one blogger and ask them to recommend the next subject from someone on their blogroll. The same way their blogs are linked to each other's online, the photos would be linked to each other in the series. -- Gabriela Herman
High contrast and deeply saturated, Herman's images are focused and personal. We don't think about what we look like when we use these machines. Typically we so wrapped in the world before our eyes that the physical spaces around us vanishes -- and to the photographer's benefit, it seems like she did as well. These images are striking in how unselfconscious the subjects are, and as a result, the images feel all the more intimate. Herman's subjects are depicted on beds and couches, shirtless and in towels, standing in front of the refrigerator or seated on the floor. There is a universality in this, too. As a blogger and blog reader, I've never attempted to visualize the tangible reality behind the blogs I read, but my personal experience of blogging is little different from what Herman's images show. And somehow, this makes me feel all the more connected.
 |
| Tosh.0, 2011 -- Gabriela Herman |
View Herman's
Bloggers series on the Photographer's Showcase
here.
For more information please contact photo-eye Gallery Associate Director Anne Kelly by
email or by calling the gallery at (505) 988-5152 x202
