Reflection: Jerry & Maggie: This Is Not Photography
The documentary is about two married photographers who each have a distinct style that push the boundaries of what exactly photography is and what it can be used in. Jerry Uelsmann specialized in creating single black and white photographs created from several negatives, making impossible scenes. Maggie Taylor creates surreal landscapes through a variety of mediums. In the documentary she discusses her use of film photography and repurposed older photos, although now her work involves a lot more digital and AI manipulation.
I personally connect more with Jerry's work a lot over Maggie's because of my experience in these projects. My first year of photography in high school made us create multiple exposure images using several negatives in the darkroom. I'm familiar with the process and time it takes to make these pieces, even though ours were of much lower quality than his. Maggie's use of repurposed items and photographs is inspirational in the sense that you really can find ideas in just about anything, even things other people have made. I think the surreal aspect is what makes her work so much more interesting, as without it I feel her work might have never gotten as popular as it did. I think both their processes are impressive. I prefer Jerry's work, but I'm impressed with how the two of them felt ahead of their time working on these pieces in the same way we're only just now perfecting machines that can do the same.
Thumbnail image source: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2399354/?ref_=tt_mv_close
