On Narcissus

Narcissus (from the series World of One)

As the name implies, this piece was inspired by the story of Narcissus from Greek myth. In summation, Narcissus was a hunter who fell in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. He then died of starvation, as he refused to take his eyes off himself. This is essentially meant to be a cautionary tale: Basically, don't be too much of a douche.

I feel as if we now live in a hyper-narcissistic society. Social media has enabled us all to live in our own digital "World of One"s. Whenever we sign online, the digital world that we inhabit is personalized and catered towards our specific needs. In other words, it's all about us. We now literally watch other people watching us. To me, it feels like my reflection has run away and has taken on a life of its own, not all that different from Peter Pan's shadow.

The great post-modernist philosopher Michel Foucault famously described society as a Panopticon: A special type of prison in the shape of a nipple, with the guard tower in the middle and the cells surround the tower in the outer ring. The inmates can't see into the guard tower, but the guards can see into the cells, giving the inmates the feeling that they are always being watched. Foucault said that, in society, we are simultaneously both guards as well as inmates of the Panopticon that makes up our social landscape. I find that this has never been more true than it is now. Big Brother is already here, and it is us: Our own reflections stare back at us, watching us from the pool.

World of One: Hide and Seek

This is easily the most expensive photograph I have ever taken. Shot on 35mm Fujichrome color reversal film (which shoots positive, rather than negative images for those who are not in the know) at the Christian Science Center in Boston, with the assistance of my brother. I was originally hoping that the leaves on the trees would have more red in them by now, but I got spots of yellow here and there instead. This is I think, is a good way to describe what I feel like when I'm trying to remember something. It’s like it's all there, but I just can't see where it is.

World of One: Narcissus

It felt like I was going to die if I didn't make this picture. The idea of it kept calling to me from the back of my mind. As with "Reflection" this was shot using film, and then scanned and manipulated in photoshop after. Photographed at the reflection pool at the Christan Science Center in Boston. Concept was inspired by the story of "Narcissus" from greek mythology.

World of One: Reflection

It feels like I've been waiting all summer to take this picture. Unlike the previous images in the world of one series, this was shot on 35mm kodak color film. Of course the film is scanned and manipulated digitally after. But actually shooting with film again, reminded me of how I'd completely forgotten the feeling of fear that came with it. The big difference is this, when you're shooting with film, you're bleeding money every time you press the button. I hear dollar signs in my head for each click of the shutter on my old Minolta.

But film has a completely different feel to it. The colors between each company and film type are different, there's more of an element of unpredictability to it. Each roll of film feels like more of a gamble, there is less room for error. I don't even know if I think this is a good picture or not, but I do know that I want to keep making more of these things until I get it right.