Kristin Seymour Photo book Mentor essay
Instead of a single book to use as a mentor I chose to focus on three
photographers: Robert Frank, David Hockney and David Sylvian. I chose these artists because they all created works of art that used the formal method of photomontage and photo collage to create a single image. The idea to create work similar to them started in Italy when I was jealous of the people who could use phone apps to make panoramas. I chose to make ones with my iPad and tried my hardest to stich them together perfectly. Needless to say I did not succeed but I discovered that the replication, disorientation and non-‐perfect look, was more aesthetically appealing to me. When introduced to this project I did not know what I wanted to do at all. It was only when I browsed through Robert Frank’s Come Again that I was inspired. He created this photo book from snap shots he took while on an assigned photography mission. The images from Come Again were not taken with the purpose of a photomontage. It was years after his trip to the locations that he composed the collaged photos. The photos were all from multiple angles and perspectives. In the end the images looked whole and were placed on grid paper.
David Hockney also creates photo montage collages. These collages
are usually of generic landscapes and people. His images may end up in a grid like format or overlapping like mine were. He often plays with scale of items within the