Assignment No. 1

Simon Cherin-Gordon was born in Berkeley, CA. He is a BFA candidate at Sonoma State University, with an expected graduation date of May 2017.   

I see the world through a viewfinder. There are multiple times every day in which I look at something, whether it be a specific object in front of me or the landscape I am surrounded by, and the photograph I would take becomes instantly clear to me.

It is this innate sense of pre-visualization that has—as a surprise to myself—led to the installation work I am now doing. After working exclusively with film for a number of years, I now work with digital photography, video, sound and other forms of media such as sculpture and etching. In “2001 (Epilogue),” a recent installation, I projected a video comprised of found footage and sound onto a wall with digital prints mounted on it. The layering of the motion and color changes on top of still imagery allowed my work to achieve a level of dimensionality that I have long been striving for.

http://simoncheringordon.com

Photographs Not Taken No. 5

When I drive alone, that’s when images come to mind. It’s just me, and the world, and several lenses. The windshield, rearview mirror, side windows and side mirrors frame my surroundings.

So often, this produces interesting and often beautiful potential photographs. Especially when I am on the highway in a sparsely-populated, flat area; this dynamic multi-directional camera I am inside of creates miraculous compositions. Capturing them is difficult, since I am operating this contraption as a driver.

If I brought a friend, relative or some other person along with me, so that they could drive while I shot, it wouldn’t work. The moving nature of of the vehicle makes image capture challenging, but that’s not the biggest problem. It’s that I would no longer be alone, and it is seemingly the solitude more than the nature of the car that creates the overflow of would-be phenomenal images running through my mind. That, and the inherent beauty of the desolate landscape.

Single Image No. 5

The sun sets below Paestum in Southern Italy. March 2015.

Single Image No. 4

In case of emergency, exit through roof. An American student gazes through a bus window at Mount Vesuvius near Ercolano, Italy in the spring of 2015.

 

Thousands gather to enjoy the Carnival float parade in Nice, France. February 2015

Single Image No. 3

Madrid’s Reina Sofia Museum engages with its neighbors on a bright day in February, 2015.

Single Image No. 2

Dinner is prepared at Jemaa el-Fnaa market, located in the center of Marrakech’s Medina quarter. (April, 2015)

Photographs Not Taken No. 1

Every time I approach the Richmond Bridge at night, I want to pull over. I never do. I am usually in a hurry to get somewhere—to my parent’s home in Berkeley, to a basketball game, or to a far-off destination that will require hours and hours of driving. Stopping seems precarious at best given the winding nature of that stretch of the 580 and idiotic at worst given the extreme proximity to law enforcement; San Quentin prison lurks a couple hundred feet to the southwest. But I always have this burning urge to drive onto the shoulder, park my Prius, get out and set up a tripod.

The Bay is always beautiful, particularly when looking East from a North Bay vantage point. All of the bridges that span the Bay are magnificent in unique ways. Still, there is something about this specific spot at night. The way the water seems to sit more still to the north side of the bridge than to the south. The way the old bridge somehow manages to look more elegant than decrepit. The way the moonlight hits the water on some nights, or disperses its glare through the fog to create an indigo haze on others. The distant flickers of orange light coming from Point Richmond, and the parallel streams of red and white light coming from the northbound and southbound traffic. One of these days, I’ll pull over.

Single Image #1

City lights brighten the night sky over Fes in Northern Morocco.

Selected Works by Simon Cherin-Gordon