Thank You Machine Elves!

Thank You Machine Elves! is an attempt to emphasise the algorithmic nature of digital photography by disrupting and manipulating the way light is converted into digital data. The aim is to invoke awareness of the medium itself by reminding us that a digital camera is nothing more than a computer with a lens on it. The work, which began life ‘in camera’ as headshot portraits of seventy-five different people, forms part of a larger ongoing experiment to create new interpretations of portraiture, and is a natural extension of my interest in the photographic process. I’m more interested in post-production, which can last months, than I am in the actual act of taking a photograph, which usually only lasts a hundredth or a thousandth of a second. The aim of the project is to challenge conventional photographic representation, and, in doing so, explore the creative possibilities of digital photography.