Visual Art by Jacob Mann

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My big project which started in the summer 2009 called "In Museums".  Museums look like nice place to take great pictures. They are filled with pieces of art, people and sometimes have nice architecture. Everybody is taking pictures so it's easy to shoot discreetly unsuspecting people. Too bad that a lot of museums don't allow taking pictures and it's real shame.  May be they share belief - when you take picture of a person you can also steal his/her soul.

 Before I started to shoot my project I've researched on the web - what pictures people usually take in museums. I've made a list of things to avoid:

1. Don't shoot pieces of art unless they are part of visual composition - somebody else created this art, it's not my goal to reproduce other artist's work

2. Don't take pictures of people mimicking statues

3. No pictures of people yawning or sleeping in front of paintings or sculptures

4. Avoid taking picture of nice old lady looking at the genitals of a naked male statue

5. Don't bring models and shoot them naked between statues and children

 So what's left for me to do? My goal was to shoot visual compositions created by pieces of art, people surrounding them and architecture of the buildings they are placed in. Let's look at some examples.

The two dinosaurs -  skeleton and the one on the wall - create rhythmic repetition in the picture. The dinosaur on the wall looks like it's trying to reach for the kid in front of him, the skeleton dinosaur looks like he wants to be petted on the head. This interaction between 2 dinosaurs and the children creates visual composition that makes this picture. I called this picture "We are friends".

The distance between this nice old lady and the statue on the right is equal to the distance between the statues she is shooting, and with the camera on her face which makes it look similar to the faces of the statues she looks like she continues the row of statues, and the figure on the paintings behind her back completes the row.

This picture captures harmony created for one fleeting moment. The people surrounding the shack stand there in height order   - the 5 people in front of the shack go from the tallest one to the shortest and so do 2 men on the side of the shack. Each of them is in dynamic pose that shows that in a second they will be gone from their places and break this order. Richness of details and tones adds interest to this picture.

The picture above is taken in American Museum of Natural History, New York.

Viewer's eye almost forced to follows the curve, skips to the sphere on the top and then directed by 2 beams goes down to the lone figure on the floor which is really the center of the picture. It looks like a futuristic space port where a passenger waits for the next flight to Mars.

I'll let you now to view the rest of the pictures.   If you like them please let me know.