Duane Michals - photographer

Duane Michals

 

                                               Duane Michals - self portrait


 

                              Duane Michals - "Who is Sydney Sherman"



Let me introduce you to a fantastic photographer who motivates me to create my own images. Duane Michals, born in 1932, is a well-known American photographer known for his narrative sequential images. According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a narrative is a story or a description of a series, as well as a specific way of explaining or understanding events. What I found intriguing is that he creates images in the style of a film. What we can see is that he frequently marks photos in poetry writing and observations about his topic. The work of artist such as Rene Magritte and Balthus inspired Duane Michals to address literary and philosophical ideas about gender, death, and sexuality. He usually set up scenes for photographs.

                                            Duane Michals at his 40.

In 1999 Michals was asked to take a photo for a prestigious Vogue on quantum physics. His photo relates to Werner Heisenberg who said that you cannot predict with certainty the position or velocity a particle - they interact in chaos. The concept that the essential expression of energy is something disorganized pulled the carpet from under a lot of thinking. Michals decided to purchase a convex mirror and illustrate the Haisenberg uncertainty principle. As he said on interview he thought to illustrate with the mirror which transforms everything in front of it.

Dr                                  Heisenberg's Magic Mirror of Uncertainty, 1998



Duane Michals is the narrator. As he said photography should not be documentary. Their topic is the human condition and his sequential images called Paradise Regained are not exception. Paradise Regained it tells a story but there we can see more than a story. Its subjects is a couple in a sterile office environment whose reality is slowly transformed by plants as they normality fuse piece by piece. By the final image the couple are not longer alone. They pose by plenty of houseplants and let loose in wild botanical universality.

                                   Duane Michals, Paradise Regained,1968


In 2008 he celebrated his 50 years anniversary working as a photographer. He currently live in New York city. He is still doing photos and take current part in international exhibitions. Why did I choose this photographer to tell about his work? I believe that Duane Michals as a photographer stands out from others, it allows us to see unknown respects of reality. His works are full of narratives. I can draw inspiration from them and learn a lot. Especially I like photo descriptions because I like poetry. I believe that this photos show wonderfully the curiosity and creativity that me as a student would like to develop.



Sources:

Fundacion Mapfre (2021) Available at:https://www.fundacionmapfre.org/en/exhibitions/historical/2017/photography-duane-michals/ (Accessed: 12 October 2021).

Artnet (2021) Available at: http://www.artnet.com/artists/duane-michals/3 (Accessed: 12 October 2021)

JmCohen (2021) Available at: https://www.jmcohen.com/artist/Duane_Michals/works/226/#!226 (Accessed: 12 October 2021)

ADC Global 2021 Available at:http://adcglobal.org/hall-of-fame/duane-michals/ (Accessed: 13 October 2021)

Cambridge University Press (2021) Available at: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/narrative( Accessed: 13 October 2021)

Andreasson, K (2015) The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/feb/26/duane-michals-best-photograph-french-vogue-quantum-physics-heisenberg (Accessed: 13 November 2021).

Lens Culture (2021) Available at: https://www.lensculture.com/articles/duane-michals-storyteller-the-photographs-of-duane-michals-2 (Accessed date: 13 November 2021)

Lucy Writer's Platform (2020) Available at:https://lucywritersplatform.com/2020/09/22/postcards-in-isolation-27-duane-michals-paradise-regained-1968/ (Accessed: 13 November 2021)