Michael Cherney
Michael Cherney is an American born photographer who explores natural shapes and landscapes to create large scale photographs. His photography is almost always in black and white and pays close attention to intricate details. Cherney’s work often includes repeating landscapes shapes and patterns that are typically distorted in a foggy effect. The hazy feeling of his photographs gives an unsettling and uncomfortable feeling that amplifies the effect of the large-scale landscapes, and the uninhabited theme.
A big influence on Cherney’s style is his exposure to international cultures. His global travels specifically to China have influenced his style. Large mountainous terrain is a traditional Chinese watercolor style, and the feeling is thoroughly expressed in his photography. Cherney also uses various shapes and sizes of photographs, with the two main forms being long thin landscape mediums, and Chinese fan shaped photographs. The fan shape further exemplifies his connection with China and the Asian world.
Cherney’s process is quite time consuming. He uses large scale traditional wide lens analog film cameras and develops the film in a darkroom. The choice to use film cameras rather than modern digital cameras gives him unmatched detail and clarity.
In this photograph, there is a distorted foggy cross hatching effect that creates a barrier between the foreground and the background. Behind the cross hatching there appears to be some form of Buddhist statue, that stands on the two thirds landscape line. The image is quite subtle and has a weathered look. This image is likely supposed to contrast the clean straight lines with the weathered statue, which could be a commentary on the modern-day role of religion, or the lack of it.
