Okay, It has been quite a while since my last blog post! I wanted to update you all on everything I haven’t written about yet!
I am coming out of the fog otherwise known as my second to last semester of grad school. I have pretty much been knee deep in my Thesis project (which I will explain a little further later on.) So to explain the .gif above, I feel like I just returned to reality now that the semester is over.
I also managed to shoot two weddings towards the end of the summer!
I have a couple more booked for 2019 already and I also have shot an engagement session this past fall. The images came out stunning because sunset at Canandaigua Lake is just beautiful.
If this beautiful couple and their puppers look familiar, it is because I photographed them all a year or so ago! Seamus and Shooz were so happy to be walking around the lake!
Speaking of returning clients, I had another one contact me again for more photos. Kate at Crescent Trail Pilates Opened up a new Pilates studio in Fairport, NY. The new space is beautiful and she has a new instructor helping out with their clients.
Did I mention I began taking Ambrotypes and Tintypes?!
I took a wet plate collodion class this semester and it was truly the highlight of my week.
Pretty much all of this was happening while I was trying to develop a body of fine art photography for my thesis project.
For this work, I am interested in visually describing the military veteran experience. I found it curious that veterans who camouflaged themselves with their uniform or face paint in order to protect themselves became exposed when taken outside of the context of the military.
In the Garden, Mike Guinto. 2018, Inkjet print, 13x19”.
Brick and Mortars, Mike Guinto, 2018, Inkjet Print 13x19”
These photos may become a different series, however I think some of the other work I have created since works a little better.
I also tried photographing veterans hiding in plain sight, being able to disappear into a landscape.
One of the problems I had with this is I felt like I was generalizing or speaking on behalf of all veterans (which is just impossible to do.) So I decided to let the veterans experiences speak for themselves, and allow the audience to interpret how they wish. So I started cutting my old work prints.
One of the things they tell you before you go to boot camp is that they “break you down, so they can build you back up.”
I wanted to ask the question of what happens to those pieces when the service member transitions into a veteran. Unless you have a well crafted plan, it is easier to flounder, for the first time in many veterans lives they begin to live without a support network, they often move to a new city or go back home where everyone has either left or learned to live without the veteran. My project is attempting to reassemble the veteran.
Brenan, Mike Guinto, Inkjet Print Collage, 8x10”
For this I began taking photos from the veterans personal archive and layering them on top of each other. The shapes I cut out are direct reference to camouflage patterns from uniform items the veteran has worn.
Over winter break I am going to be equally as busy writing my Thesis paper, continuing to develop this body of work, and also, the holidays!
So take this holiday card from us to you and I hope you all get some r&r this winter break!
