With Love, From Chicago

Good morning, afternoon, or evening (you never know what time zone you beautiful NHI people are in!).

This is my first blog post.

Ever.

I'm a little nervous!

As I was trying to think of what I should share for this first ever blog post (let's be honest, I've written and re-written it about a dozen times...and counting), it occurred to me I should share my artist's statement and the picture that started the direction of my photography.

I love that the family of NHI all bring something different to the table, both in location and style-so here goes!

.   .   .  

I love making history painting photographs. I affectionately try to capture a little bit of the humor and irony living in my world and the world around me; my little slice of the world in 2011. 

The North Face by Makenzie Magnus

2010

So this picture was taken when my photography class did an outdoor project with the creative design class! I think it's funny because it looks like this woman lives in the woods, but she can still afford to wear the North Face jacket! Sign of the times, perhaps. 

Jeff Wall is currently my favorite photographer. He's from Canada and makes these HUGE light boxes! (Photographs printed on transparencies on the top of a fluorescent light.) Here's the first image I ever saw of his work:

Jeff Wall's A Sudden Gust of Wind (after Hokusai), 1993.  

(Photo: © 2006 Jeff Wall/Tate Gallery/Courtesy of MoMA)

This photograph was strategically planned (It required over 100 photographs, taken over the course of more than a year, to achieve a seamless montage that gives the illusion of capturing a real moment in time), and inspired by this:

Katsushika Hokusai (葛飾北斎)

Ejiri in Suruga Province (a sudden gust of wind), (19th century)
28.1 x 25.4 cm; coloured woodblock print

It's just so fascinating to me! I love it.

More to come! I hope you all have a wonderful day! 

Light and love,

Makenzie