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These are some of the final images for my fine art photography project. These portraits are of students of BYU who identify themselves as homosexual and a person that supports them. With all of the dissenting views regarding this topic in the past few months I have felt very strongly about this project. The portraits will be shown in pairs. The idea is that there are gay and lesbian individuals not only in the Mormon culture, but also at BYU. I also chose to photograph someone who is a support to this person. This could be a family member or friend. This support person may also identify themselves as homosexual and both people may provide support to each other. I am not telling the viewer who identifies themselves as homosexual, because I hope the viewer will realize that placing a label with the portrait only creates divisions in our society and furthers stereotypes. It is my hope this body of work can be a vehicle for tolerance, support, love and change.
I photographed all the portraits using similar lighting and cropping. I also used a tilt shift lens to achieve selective focus, so that the subjects eyes are the only part of the image in focus. This was purposefully done to force the viewer to look in the eyes of these individuals. I hope that through this project we can realize that all men (and women) are created equal in the eyes of God.
70 comments:
I love this project! As an amateur photographer, I especially love your use of the tilt shift lens to focus on the eyes. I'd love to see more.
Great project and I think that is desperatly needed at this time. Sorry for borrowing the poster but I thought it was a great symbol and many protesters also used it in the marches of yesterday. Hope you are not mad.
Waaay cool.
I don't know the answer to any of them :( Looks like you passed.
your projest is amazing. i'm glad that you are trying to promote awareness and acceptance. well done.
Wow, these photos are amazing, and people in them are beautiful--in all ways.
Thanks for sharing your project with us.
These boys are beautiful! What a great job you are doing! I love the way you focused on the eyes...it makes such a difference. Such a timely project.
Well done Michael. The eyes are the window to the soul and you have done well to focus on them. I hope the project provokes a lot of reflection in those who might otherwise be satisfied with superficial stereotypes. Keep up the good work.
profound
How inspiring. What a great portrayal of a big problem in society today. I hope this is a success man!
What a terrific project. Congratulations!
These are beautiful.
Beautifully done photographs.
Did you do any of women?
These photos are wonderful, I would love to see more of them!
amazing...i live in seattle and read about your project being taken down on the slog at thestranger.com
i think what you are doing here is amazing and deserves national attention. i hope that byu gets enough heat from people around the country to get your project displayed again. the concept for this work is as beautiful as it is simple. i'd love to see more of it.
This is a profound and beautiful project. The fact that this is being censored is truly terrifying.
Awesome idea, and great pictures :)
Great concept. True art. You have a future.
Excellent and important work. It's pitiful that BYU has decided to pull your work, but it will only prove to make you, the art, and what it signifies, more visible (and make them look bad). Besides, I thought BYU recently said it's ok to SAY that you are gay/lesbian, so what's the problem with your work anyway? Is the message of tolerance? Acceptance? Family? Friends? Hm....
I love these photographs. I love the unifying theme of this project even more. Thank you.
This subtle art project is brilliant in so many ways. By showing just ordinary faces without the usual stereotypical markings that biggots often use to demonize the gay community (i.e. overtly sexualized or exotic transgender imageries taken out of context), any negative criticism or controversy this project elicits that ventures beyond its artistic merrit, only serves expose the true biggotted nature of the viewer who takes offense.
You should generate your images as a youtube presentation and go global with it. D
Stunning shots! I love your project, bridging the gap between gays and the community supporting us.
Good stuff. Something about looking into someone's eyes ...
Stellar.
I applaud you and this project. It is wonderful. I am sorry to hear that you were censored by the University. This art project is thought provoking and emotional. I wish you the best of luck.
I've always thought art, more than politics, has the power to bring truth to power and, thus, change the world. I commend your project and the different you are making.
Awesome series. Really awesome. These should be on the sides of busses and on billboards all over town. Every town.
I was VERY disappointed that the university felt that this was too controversial and had to be removed. A sad reminder of the fact that many in the religious community still feel we do not deserve the visibility that their view allows for themselves.
Keep up the good work because you have achieved something that art should always be striving to accomplish, the challenging of the "normal" way of thinking.
This is a really beautiful -- and brave -- project. Well done.
This is a beautiful show. Keep on with this, it's an important project! Don't let them push you around, you'll find a way to overcome.
don't let the haters hold you back. it's a beautiful project, and that beauty will defeat the hate. it may just take awhile.
I saw the post at Americablog which brought me here. The greatest art always causes a person to stop and think and reconsider the world. Bravo! Your work fits that time-honored criteria and you should be very proud. You and those who see your work win. BYU, in its myopia loses. You will go far.
Top Picture - Blue Yes,
Middle Picture - no Glasses
Bottom Picture -
If I am wrong - claim it.
Beautiful idea, gorgeous pictures. Good luck.
I would love to see your entire exhibition. What an awesome idea.
Wow, thank-you for this project. I am a gay man in Seminary in Seattle, WA and as someone from the margins engaging with the mainstream I am constantly looked to to speak for an entire community. The camaraderie and lack of labels in your project shows not only support in numbers (there are others out there), but too the reality that support is possible, in all different forms.
Thanks for this project, and the bravery of the people willing to sit for your portraits, and put their academic standing at risk.
I love this project - you could tour America and make it literally thousands of images, and it would be just as compelling.
I would love to see more.
That is a great project. I love the idea. Too bad you were censored. Keep it up.
These are beautiful. What a meaningful, important project. You're going to get out of BYU and move to a big city, where this kind of stuff is really appreciated and welcomed, right? Right? I suggest Chicago.
what a beautiful concept.
awesome.
i, as well, caught the link from americablog here.
glad you are getting some coverage and hope you run with it.
Great Project! I love the way you thought of limiting the labels people place on images ~ You should really place your images on You Tube to go national and view the results! I would definately love to see you whole collection of photos.
Thanks for the thought provoking blog ~ All the best of success to you!
As a student who was expelled with 12 credit hours remaining until graduation because he fell in love with another male student, this project both thrills and saddens me. I look at these faces and worry that this young man will be shunned will suffer the depression, abandonment, deep sorrow I felt as my friends, school, and religion turned their faces from me and left me gulping in a sea of confusion. Then I see that whichever student it is, the other is an understanding friend. 8 years later, I am finally finding that there are people who can see me through my heart and not through my "sins." Thank you for at least broaching the topic that people are multi-faceted and should never be thrown away simply because one facet may be "flawed."
all the ones on the right are the, you know whos
These are beautiful, and I was sad (though unsurprised) to hear they had been taken down without even the courtesy of informing you. I heard a similar tale from a homosexuality-supportive photography display in a Utah collage (I believe in Provo) where the photos were just right out stolen. Sadly, things like this is why I waved goodbye to the entire Mormon religion when I came out. There isn't enough good people willing to make a stand, like yourself, to show the church leaders that this kind of behavior is not Christ-like.
Great concept, great images - I'd love to see more!
Kudos, this is great!
Amazing work! The focus on the eyes is very effective. A variation of this concept should have been used to fight Prop 8.
I think this is absolutly brilliant. It's so simple, yet it has a profound message. A beautiful way to show acceptance and respect.
Some great - and necessary - work. Well done!
Sorry to read that the pictures were censored - ironically, in doing so, they will be seen by many more people now - I found them via a link from a news website.
If only BYU had known about the "Barbra effect". That's what you get for not keeping a keen interest in your gay icons!
What a terrific project! And the shabby treatment it received at the hands of the BYU hypocrites is shameful but unfortunately not unexpected from the Church of Latter Day H8te.
I wonder if they suspected that they would be held up for derisive laughter and thereby getting this project far more attention than it would have gotten ordinarily. But no matter, we gotta save those poor little lambs of god from the cold cruel world. All except the gay ones, of course. They're already on the Outer Darkness Express.
I would have loved to see your show, and I hope that you get the chance to show it off big time.
Even out of context, the work is gentle and passionate in their simplicity. They remind me of tintype headshots, in that they feel like mementos. They feel like they should be treasured, just as the people in the photos should be.
However, in context, they're powerful and I am proud that you had the courage to show this kind of truth at your school.
Keep kicking ass!
A strong message told with skill and subtlety. Everybody who divides people into "us and them" should see it.
I attended BYU in the 70s as a new convert to the Church. At that time, there was a gay witch hunt going on there, and students were being baited, expelled, and excommunicated. I thought it a bit extreme, at the time. I wish I had been nurtured and helped to see my homosexual nature, at the time. It would have saved 27 years of ignorant self-loathing, depression, and prevented the pain of ending a 27 year marriage when I finally admitted to myself that I was gay. My beautiful and fragile wife would have been spared from the pain and anguish and self-doubt caused by the Church preventing me from being truly a man of integrity and honesty, both to myself and the world around me. I hold the church responsible.
Your beautiful project should be applauded and displayed with honor, instead of censored. This art piece portrays great compassion. I'm very PROUD of you. I am encouraged to know that our future is in the hands of young people like you. Keep up the good work!
Stunning.
Would love to see the rest of the show online as well, it's a beautiful sentiment.
I could even see this as a global scale website that allows people to upload photos of themselves and the person that supports them; a way to give thanks and a way to show we're all equal and all need love and support.
Love it.
This was a *great* idea for a project. The images are beautiful. Don't be intimdated by others who aren't ready to be open-minded enough. Bertrand Russell: "do not fear to be eccentric in opinion, for every opinion now accepted was once eccentric" I'm proud of you.
Inspiring for sure.
I am glad to see this made it to the Reddit front page and it is getting exposure.
http://www.jpgmag.com/people/alexoz
While the Bible has some reference to male homosexuality, I can't recall one to women. As a photographer, the quality of your shots are excellent. The catch-lights, DOF and tone of the shots are wonderful. The subject is imaginative, and poignant, worthy of production and dissemination. I do think it would be stronger if you had interspersed male and female couples, and if possible (at BYU...) to include a variety of peoples (o.k. races) to create a stronger world-wide message here. While not necessary for creative works, it may have helped to have the technical aspects of the shots along with the descriptions to further detail the skill required to produce work like this (camera, lens, light, settings... (EXIF)).
I would round out this work into a portfolio and look to publish it, I think you would garner strong interest.
Good luck with your work, it isn't art if someone's not offended, it's definitely art if you can offend many.
Kenn
Beautiful photographs, and a beautiful message. I think BYU has done the opposite of what they intended by taking these out of the exhibit - sending you message out to a much wider audience than it ever would have reached rather than keeping it from the people. Keep up the great work!
Wow, now that is one cool exhibit! Well done!
jess
www.anonymity.cz.tc
I've just heard that your project was censored by the University; I was distressed and angered by their bigotry and ignorance. But I hope something good comes of it if attention is drawn to their actions and to your work.
Love is a powerful thing. Good for you.
I hope that you will find another outlet to display your work.
Don't be shy to reach out. There are a lot of people who would love to help you.
i love this.
this would make a great photography book.
Your work is amazing.
I am ashamed to be a part of a church that would not only limit the rights of an entire group of people, but then censor an ART project.
I am in the learning stages of teaching myself photography, and your shots are fantastic.
I applaud your work, and I am sad it was censored.
Andee
Thank you for your bravery. Know that there are many supporters out there! Let your light shine brightly and others will come to you.
I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.
Claudia
http://paintingdrawing.net
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