MOPA Recreations Sketch
Original works inspired by: The high school exhibition and collection of James Balog
After visiting the Museum of Photographic Arts back on November 19, 2023, I found myself truly amazed at both the wide variety of pieces and styles, and by the great lack of artists in the exhibit. At the time, MOPA featured three separate exhibitions featuring the works of James Balog, a documentation style photographer who captured subjects such as animals placed in or near man-manipulated objects like tarps and the effects of climate change, Morrie Camhi, a photographer who focused on capturing the Jewish population of Greece in black and white photography, and the 17th annual Youth Exhibition, which showcased the broad and imaginative works of young photographers from around Southern California. Overall, I really enjoyed the works and the range of topics displayed throughout the museum, though I wish that there was a greater representation of photographers presented- I have gone in years past and in those times the gallery usually showcased 5-10 artists at a time.
One of the many works that inspired my recreations was Balog’s melted glaciers on sand photography (the Disappearing Ice photos). I particularly loved the majestic and iron feel that these pieces gave, mostly caused by the vibrant blues contrasting the dark sands and the range of distances from each piece of ice which gave the illusion that these chunks were in fact the size of glaciers at one point or another. Through his work, Balog was able to demonstrate both a playful side to man’s hand in nature (through his tarp and animal photography) as well as draw attention to the dangers of it (through his firefighter, melted glacier, and drone shot photography). Other works that inspired my recreations from the gallery included some of the student work from the Youth Exhibition. Many of these pieces used the multi-exposure technique to create fantasy lands or open portals to new worlds. I was greatly inspired by their ability to push creative boundaries through simply stitching photos together. Many of these photos used found objects, specific locations, foliage, and more to create fantasy lands and gateways to the world of one’s imagination.
Overall, my favorite aspect of the entire show was the fact that each artist was willing to explore the idea of conveying one’s perspective on the world in their own unique way. Balog chose to look at the world from nature’s perspective, while Camhi took the person-to-person perspective. The youth exhibit chose the interpersonal perspective through each artist.
In my recreations, I photographed my dog, my brother, and my mom as well as the bubbles from boiling water, the fire from a stove top burner, and ice on the sands of Oceanside to create my own versions of the stories being told in each piece. I used my Canon EOS 80D, Lightroom Classic, and Photoshop to create these images. I didn’t want to exactly replicate the originals partly due to lack of ability to and partly because I wanted to unify my work under one tone to see if I could replicate a gallery body of work. I had a lot of fun taking these pictures too!
