Added Jun 10, 2006
D A N M C C O R M A C K
Fine Art Photographer
I began studying Photography around 1965 at the Institute of Design in Chicago. Then at the Art Institute of Chicago around 1969, while working on an MFA, I began photographing the nude with Wendy, my wife. For over thirty-five years I explored various techniques and processes while photographing the nude as a central theme.
In 1984, I began digital image making with the Apple IIe where I explored colorization by pulling curves. In 1998 I began to work with pinhole photography, using an oatmeal box pinhole camera making 8x10 inch B&W negatives. With its extreme wide angle and distortion, the camera gives me results that are constantly a surprise. These images are rooted in 16th Century pinhole optics juxtaposed with 21st Century digital print manipulations.
Using the distortions of the pinhole camera and the colorizations created in Photoshop, I create a series of visceral images that probe the unconscious mind. These images step away from the literal reality choosing instead to speak with a Jungian expressionism. Objects and places juxtaposed with the model trigger a response that I react to while colorizing each image. Through successive pulling of curves B&W values are replaced with color that ultimately connect with the dreamlike state of the finished image.
I currently head the Photography program at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York where I teach photography classes and an Introduction to Digital Media class.