the black snapper

I’ve always held a strong fascination for both the definition and interpretation of portraits. Typically, portraits result from a large degree of cooperation between photographer and subject, ideally – though not necessarily -revealing a connection between the two. Both are involved in a balanced and unbiased relationship to create a desired outcome.

Many photographers and painters have explored the limits and possibilities of the two dimensional portrait, all contributing to what it has become today. The question still remains: are we able to capture a person’s character, thoughts or emotions in a single image?

With the series Transitions, I explore this idea by making an attempt to ‘catch’ people as they are dissociated from the encompassing world, deeply entranced in their own thoughts and absorbed in whatever is going through their mind.

The people in these images are cycling on a long and straight daily commuter route. When we cycle we’re disconnected from the world around us, we dream and ponder whilst mechanically riding along a familiar, somewhat mundane path.

Submerged into an ‘absorptive mode,’ people’s expressions depict themselves in an honest way – unposed, unconcerned and unaware of either the photographer or the camera. The relation between the photographer and the subject has therefore been obscured, something which provokes us to ask ourselves if these really are portraits.

Transitions was my end of year work for my second bachelor year at the Academy of Fine Arts in Ghent.