99 Variations


  • Photographer
    Youngho Kang
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Company/Studios
    Sangsang Variations
  • Date of Photograph
    2009
  • Technical Info
    Canon

A self-portrait has, in my case, its fundamentals in the metamorphic alchemy of the camera and the mirror. Am I photographing the mirror or is the mirror photographing me? The camera and the mirror crashed head on, with the result being an image that both was, and was not me. This method of using the camera and the mirror as if it were alchemy, transformed me both qualitatively and quantitatively. Until now I have found about 50 other ones in me. My final goal is finding a total of 99. Hence the title for this body of work is ’99 Variation’.

Story

A self-portrait has, in my case, its fundamentals in the metamorphic alchemy of the camera and the mirror. Am I photographing the mirror or is the mirror photographing me? The camera and the mirror crashed head on, with the result being an image that both was, and was not me. Familiar, but then again unfamiliar. This method of using the camera and the mirror as if it were alchemy, transformed me both qualitatively and quantitatively. If I was to explain the reasoning behind me photographing myself, reflected in the mirror, it would be because I consider fine art to be ‘an effort for passion of doing things only I can do’. This I found to be the intersection of qualities which make differ from others. Until now I have found about 50 other ones in me. My final goal is finding a total of 99. Hence the title for this body of work is ’99 Variation’. My work is not a planned one. It was a subconscious thing, meaning I did not know where I was going, like in a daydream. Having the images coming together in this specific way is something I cannot stress enough, seeing as how crucial and of importance the process behind each image is. This method of image creation, where no digital editing is used nor allowed, brings out the factors which create a fusion between two existing genres, a work which is "documentary fine art photography". Through searching for images by utilizing imagination and the structure of the three discovered archetypes, could I perhaps claim that these are different kinds of anthropology and archaeology, all exerted within myself? With my camera serving as an endoscope, and me having taken on the inductive approach, the likelihoods to explore common human archetypes in a documentary-like sense became possible.

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