Artist (2//1/10): Roy Cox

all images
Roy Cox

Roy Cox is a 35 year old fashion and advertising photographer. He began his career just 8 years ago, when at the age of 27 he decided to turn his photographic hobby into a full-time passion. Having no formal training, he spent a few months immersed in teaching himself the technical aspects of photography before opening his own studio in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland. He quickly began making a name for himself around the state doing portraits and portfolio shots. After less than a year in business he got his first commercial assignment and his career took off from there. He began working with large advertising agencies, musicians and designers. Today he has done countless magazine covers and editorial layouts and hundreds of advertisements. He has an easily identifiable style that seems to fuse fantasy and reality. A lot of his more artful images use creatively detailed sets which is something I have been playing around with in my own work. I particularly love the Wizard of Oz themed shoot shown above. A few of the shots seem to have been done is a studio while others seem to be on location. It is helpful for me to see the things that are possible in a studio, as well as the what can be done in terms of lighting a location to make it blend and work with the series.

Artist Lecture #1: Alec Soth

Alec Soth
Natalia
from the series "Fashion Magazine"

Alec Soth
Sonia
from the series "Fashion Magazine"

Alec Soth
Jane
from the series "Fashion Magazine"

I very much enjoyed the lecture given yesterday by Alec Soth. His manor was very engaging as he seemed to strike the right balance between humor and seriousness. I appreciated that he began the lecture by speaking about other photographers, giving quotes and explaining how their work influenced him and his photographic journey. Even the title he had given to his lecture, "A Paralyzed Cyclops in the Democratic Jungle," was a reference to quotes and work by David Hockney and William Eggleston, respectively. It was refreshing to hear someone at that level of success refer to and reference other photographers so often. I am reminded of previous artist lectures where the artist simply spoke about themselves and their own work the entire time. Soth allowed us into his art making world and made the point of the lecture about the journey and not the final product, which very much relates to his images and the way he creates them.

In a world where everyone has a camera and "people with cell phone cameras are taking the great documentary pictures of our time," Soth believes that the way to rise above that is through storytelling or narrative photography, which is not a dramatic arch from start to finish but a series of unconnected points that together form a whole. To have him explain it in this way was very helpful to me as I seek to often tell a narrative of sorts within my own images and have at times gotten lost in the details of telling a classically fashioned story, which is not entirely necessary or pragmatic . He also made a comment that helped me to put the "entire world as photographers" into perspective. He said, "It is not hard to make one great image but to make a great series is difficult." That is what sets those of us trained in photography apart from those who simply snap a great photo once and a while. It is easy for me to get discouraged sometimes when I see people who do not have the education or experience that I do, be praised for taking great pictures. It is a jungle out there but those who work the hardest and want it the most will ultimately rise above the masses and I think Soth is right in believing that storytelling is the perfect way to do it.

Research: The Story-telling Element

In order to properly tell a "story" or provide a proper character study in my own series, I have have been researching fashion spreads that do this effectively. It seems that in many cases there is an element, other than the set, that appears repeatedly in the images along with the model. This spread, shot by Steven Meisel, is a perfect example of this, with the two young shirtless surfer dudes appearing in many of the images. (I have only shown a selection here, as the spread is 19 pictures. See it in it's entirety here, on the Touch Puppet website, a personal favorite.) The interaction between the three gives the spread a completely different meaning and feel than it were only the model, Jessica Stam, in every photo. Meisel seems to be the master of creating a "story" within his images, although I know it is often a collaboration with the creative director of the magazine. As I move forward with my own work, I will always look to Meisel, particularly his images for Italian Vogue, as the greatest of inspirations.

All images by Steven Meisel
Vogue Italia
Spetember 2003

VMFA entry

I do not have a copy of my actual application as I submitted the original and tuned in the other copy to Tom. I regrettably didn't take a picture of all my materials before I submitted them nor have I received my "entry received" postcard. But here are the images I submitted...

MFA App: San Francisco Art Inst.

The Collection of Portraits I Submitted:

Contest Entry: PDN Student Photo Contest 2010

Contest Entry: APA Awards 2009

Submitted Image:
Wary
digital image, 2009