George Ciardi
Artist Statement:
I am a self-taught photographer whose camera of choice is a 1980 Canon Fl 35mm. My work has been featured in Pacific Northwest Magazine, PhotoMedia, Camera Arts, and Photo District News.
Having spent most of my working life in one factory or another, I've always found an odd beauty, a kind of accidental artistry, in these places built for function, rather than form. To me, they are not just factories, but grand and magical places, full of dangers and pollutions and monotony. There's a child-like sense of mystery about them, a feeling that horrible crimes or hideous monsters are possible around every comer. Yet they are simply places of work, like second homes, and there is comfort in being there.
Perhaps because I no longer work in a factory, I began wandering these bleak industrial landscapes at night, the natural hum of traffic and machinery surrounding me, trying to recapture something. I wanted to photograph them in a way that expressed the way they made me feel, in images that are simultaneously eerie and serene, isolating, but without manipulating or adding to the scenes.
By using ordinary daylight balanced slide film subjected to time exposures, I am able to achieve what I was looking for. No special effects of any kind are used, either in printing or in camera. All are shot at night, usually between 11 pm and Sam. The time exposures, ITom one to eight minutes, contribute a sensation of movement and crispness of detail that add to the surreal effects of the work. The intense color variations are simply the reactions of the film to various available light sources. No additional light sources are used. I use only lights that were put there by the people who built or worked in these buildings, lights intended for a purpose other than my own. Every element has to be utilitarian in nature. To add lights would defeat the point. This makes workable compositions more difficult to find, but it makes the hunt more enjoyable, like searching for treasure.
Since beginning the project in 1998, many of these buildings have been razed, closed down, or renovated, and the work has taken on historical value.
I am a self-taught photographer whose camera of choice is a 1980 Canon Fl 35mm. My work has been featured in Pacific Northwest Magazine, PhotoMedia, Camera Arts, and Photo District News.
Having spent most of my working life in one factory or another, I've always found an odd beauty, a kind of accidental artistry, in these places built for function, rather than form. To me, they are not just factories, but grand and magical places, full of dangers and pollutions and monotony. There's a child-like sense of mystery about them, a feeling that horrible crimes or hideous monsters are possible around every comer. Yet they are simply places of work, like second homes, and there is comfort in being there.
Perhaps because I no longer work in a factory, I began wandering these bleak industrial landscapes at night, the natural hum of traffic and machinery surrounding me, trying to recapture something. I wanted to photograph them in a way that expressed the way they made me feel, in images that are simultaneously eerie and serene, isolating, but without manipulating or adding to the scenes.
By using ordinary daylight balanced slide film subjected to time exposures, I am able to achieve what I was looking for. No special effects of any kind are used, either in printing or in camera. All are shot at night, usually between 11 pm and Sam. The time exposures, ITom one to eight minutes, contribute a sensation of movement and crispness of detail that add to the surreal effects of the work. The intense color variations are simply the reactions of the film to various available light sources. No additional light sources are used. I use only lights that were put there by the people who built or worked in these buildings, lights intended for a purpose other than my own. Every element has to be utilitarian in nature. To add lights would defeat the point. This makes workable compositions more difficult to find, but it makes the hunt more enjoyable, like searching for treasure.
Since beginning the project in 1998, many of these buildings have been razed, closed down, or renovated, and the work has taken on historical value.
