Jerry Uelsmann: Creativity from Within

"Untitled" 1981 by Jerry Uelsmann

Jerry Uelsmann is one of my favorite photographers and I have so much respect for him because of his patience, dedication, passion, and unique style in photography. He exemplifies creativity from within in his surrealistic photographs that takes the viewer into another world.  He designs his photographs from all the images that he has taken. It's intriguing to think about how his mind goes about the creative process when working on an image where he remembers a photograph he might have taken years ago that would fit perfectly into the image that he's working on. I watched an interview of him describing that, and he explained how he would have to go find that negative out of the hundreds, or thousands, of pictures he has taken. 

          Jerry Uelsmann is an American photographer who specializes in analog/film photography. He spends hundreds of hours in the darkroom, using multiple negatives and enlargers, to create just one image. His works seem so flawless and it's impressive how he practiced solely on analog photography to create his artworks. He was able to manipulate photographs even before the age of Adobe Photoshop. It's apparent that his work is time extensive and can take hours, days, and weeks for him to be satisfied with what he has created. While nowadays the type of photography he creates can be done in much shorter time on Adobe Photoshop, he still plays in the darkroom. He’s a true artist of photography and designer in my eyes. 

          His patience, dedication, and passion to make just one beautiful print displays how much hard work is put in to works of art. In the world of commercialized art and design, we often overlook or take no notice of the products and artwork around us and how they affect us. We as human beings are really privileged to live in a world full of art and design, but at the same time, designers and artists are obligated, by their mere nature, to reveal the beauty of the world through their imagination from within and from outside themselves. We should learn to see through the eyes of a designer and learn to appreciate art and design in society because it will transcend our lifetimes and inspire people in the future.

"Untitled" 1975 by Jerry Uelsmann

Credit/Links:
More about Jerry Uelsmann: http://www.uelsmann.com/
 http://pdngallery.com/legends/uelsmann/
[images] http://www.masters-of-photography.com/U/uelsmann/uelsmann.html