San Francisco I. 2004. Gelatine Silver Print. 76 x 61 cm
Courtesy TED PARTIN, Gallery Thomas Flor, Düsseldorf

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San Francisco II. 2004. Gelatine Silver Print. 61 x 76 cm
Courtesy TED PARTIN, Gallery Thomas Flor, Düsseldorf

Paris. 2005. Gelatine Silver Print. 61 x 76 cm
Courtesy TED PARTIN, Gallery Thomas Flor, Düsseldorf

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Hewitt. 2008. Gelatine Silver Print. 37,5 x 47,5 cm
Courtesy TED PARTIN, Gallery Thomas Flor, Düsseldorf

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Bushwick I. 2009. Cibachrome. 20 x 25 cm
Courtesy TED PARTIN, Gallery Thomas Flor, Düsseldorf

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The starting-point for this strange atmosphere in the photographs is in the traditional approach that American photographer TED PARTIN uses, and is diametrically opposed to the rapidity of today’s digital image transfer.

PARTIN works with a 8 x 10 inch Deardorff camera, a plate camera whose technology is reminiscent of 19th century technical processes. Setting up this camera and preparing it for an exposure takes a considerable amount of time. During this phase the photographer, the camera and the subject (friends or strangers) adjust themselves to each other, and each subject of these seemingly documentary portraits becomes an active co-creator of their own staged scene.

So in TED PARTIN’s photographs people always present themselves in a kind of natural pose, an attitude in which a private and a public, an intimate and a distanced element are mixed.

And good news: you can find his work in a book entitled “Eyes Look Through You” published earlier this year and available at Schaden