Matthew
Dayak
Dayak,
a twenty-six year old, self taught photographer, has
been taking pictures seriously for the past eight
years. During that time, he has photographed constantly,
having his work displayed on various album covers,
liner notes and fliers for different concerts in Pittsburgh.
He keeps a darkroom in his Brookline home where he
does all his developing and printing.
Because of a strong love for music, it was natural
for Dayak to begin taking pictures of his favorite
bands during their performances in and around the
Pittsburgh area. In the densely packed, poorly lit
clubs and bars, many of the fundamentals that would
form his photography came to fruition. The strong
contrast of lights and darks, random compositions
of people, spontaneous movement on and off the stage
taught Dayak to work quickly and efficiently.
In Dayak's recent work, he has been shooting pictures
to encourage people to see things in a way they may
not take the time to notice. Dayak does this by concentrating
his photographs on details from unique perspectives.
In his landscapes, familiar bridges and buildings
become patterns and shapes, positioned against the
stark white background of the sky. Highway interchanges
are seen from below. Landmarks are reduced to a single
plane. By showing only a small portion of the whole,
he is inviting the viewer to complete the picture.
Dayak
applies these same concepts to the human form. With
the use of work lights, he is able to isolate specific
body parts using dramatic contrast. He further isolates
the parts again shooting only small sections of the
body, To achieve a more shallow depth field, Dayak
adds several macro filters to the lens of his medium
format camera. This causes sharp focus on only a specific
portion of the body, surrounding it with shapes of
black and white. The are intimate pictures, rarely
are we given an opportunity to view the human body
in such a detailed manner.
Using
liquid emulsion, a substance that can turn any surface
into a photograph, Dayak has developed some unconventional
prints. He tried several different surfaces, including
aluminium, plastic, wood and stone; finally stumbling
upon a stack of sandpaper in his basement. The paper
was coated first with two layers of polyurethane to
enable it to hold up in the chemicals and water. After
a day of drying, it was then coated with two layers
of the liquid emulsion. While still wet, the paper
was printed and developed. This brought a new aspect
to the prints that Dayak found interesting. The texture
created a surface that limits the amount of detail
possible. Because of this, Dayak took specific photographs
to emphasize contrast, because the light areas are
now brown, for them to stand out, they must be economical
and clearly defined. Due to these difficult restrictions,
some of the pictures needed to be reprinted over and
over until the result was perfect. The finished product
is a one-of-a-kind print, often resembling hand drawings
and paintings. Through this exploration of new media
and concepts, Dayak's work has achieved a new level
of sophistication.
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