Title: Piling at Sunrise v1395 Artist: Nawfal Nur Medium: Digital Photography Size: Height x Width: 21.8" x 16" Style: Abstract Geometric Edition: Open Edition Unframed art print, and printed on Somerset Velvet Fine Art Paper. Copyright 2006 Nawfal Nur. All Rights Reserved. Click on IMAGE for larger viewCURATOR'S CHOICE AWARD WINNER for his collection of abstract works. ARTIST'S STATEMENT Being an American Photographer living in Malaysia, I love to shoot editorial subjects, including Malaysian ethnic and cultural themes. My photo-essays encompass cultural-historical subjects, like classical Indian dance, traditional Malay dance, ancient Malay weapons and antique Chinese jewelry. The images seen in the Abstracts show encompass two distinct bodies of work. " The Heavy Machines" collection shows cranes and piling machines that I discovered and photographed while roaming land development sites. In familiar likeness is "The Built Environment" series, which is a group of abstract photographs, portraying modern and historical architecture in Malaysia. The same computer software and techniques were used to put the final additions on the images from both of these collections. The distinction between these two photo series is that the subject matter is different, one is machines and the other is architecture. "The Heavy Machines": Because there are so many projects going on in Penang, there is no lack of heavy machines sitting around. Cranes and piling machines are noisy, blow a lot of smoke into the air and are generally not too exciting. Consequently, it is the disruption of sanity and destruction of nature through 'progress,' that spurred me to create "The Heavy Machines" Collection. The thing that politicians and land developers call 'progress' is the same thing that often destroys the sanity of the people living near such land development monsters. The noise, pollution and nature's deconstruction created at the expense of these massive concrete building projects is rather sickening. However, wanting to find some good within any beast, I decided to discover what beauty there might be in the machines that are enslaved to work these land developments. That is how "The Heavy Machines" collection came about. After roaming a few land development sites, and really studying the cranes and piling machines, I discovered that they are beautiful in their own metallic way. There is a lot of geometry in these machines and that is what I wanted to expose for this photographic series. "The Heavy Machines" series is all about geometric shapes and distinct colors. Over all, I wanted to attempt to bring these ugly machines into a more pure light and one that observers could gain appreciation for the parts from which these machines are constructed. " The Built Environment" is a collection of abstract photographs that embrace the modern urban landscape of Malaysia. I like to go out and see what interesting imagery there is to capture among the massively modern cityscapes of Malaysia. I saunter along the busy streets looking at the historical architecture intermixed with ultra-modern buildings and wonder which structures will make the most interesting abstract architectural subjects. "The Built Environment" is an ongoing collection of buildings and urbanscapes, such as the Petronas Towers, metropolitan Kuala Lumpur, Penang and various religious buildings throughout Malaysia. There is a lot of room for expansion in this collection and I feel confident that I will continue to be inspired by the interesting man-made structures of Malaysia. BIOGRAPHY: I was born in 1965, in Lincoln, Nebraska; and I lived in Lincoln all my life until moving to Malaysia in 1994. Becoming a Photographer was for me, "the road less traveled," because years ago, I would never have imagined becoming an artist…it wasn't the path I was traveling. I did the typical thing, I suppose, I earned a professional degree from the University of Nebraska - a Master of Community & Regional Planning – I was going to design cities. However, there was something that always bothered me about being a City Planner, something that one of my professors said that is irritatingly true, he said: " Planners propose and politicians dispose!" And, rarely do the two meet eye-to-eye. Maybe that is why I never fully blossomed into the Planner I thought I would become. During graduate school, I worked for the Lincoln – Lancaster County Planning Department; then my career went off into a new direction – computer software. After working for the Planning Department, I took a position with CLIFFS NOTES as head of the Technical Support Department, where I learned much about the world of software development, testing, distribution, and customer service with a smile. However now, all of that seems like another lifetime or another world. In a parallel existence, my life as a photographer sprouted at the tender age of 12: I purchased a very sturdy and very trusty PENTAX K1000 and 50mm lens, and that was my first SLR camera. I took pictures of everything, but particularly enjoyed macro photography. With my discovery of photomacrography, my passion for photography began, and since then, I have been an avid photographer of close-up work. After moving to Malaysia in 1994, my enthusiasm for photography took off like Seattle Slew at the Kentucky Derby. I admit…I was never formally trained as a photographer: I would have to say I was self-trained by reading "How-To" books by my favorite photographers, such as Gary Perweiler (" Secrets of Studio Still Life Photography"), and John Shaw (" The Nature Photographer's Complete Guide to Professional Field Techniques"), just to name a couple. Nevertheless, my main source of training has been through practice and trial & error. Shooting fine art and editorial subjects, managing my photography website and two photo-blogs takes up considerable amounts of time. My primary photo-blog is called, " Maniac Behind the Lens:" this is an inside look of my life in Malaysia and recent events regarding my photography. As I mention in the introduction to this blog, living in Malaysia is sort of like being in " Oz:" I'm surrounded by lots of wild stuff, a culture where magic lurks in the shadows of mystery, and of course, there is no lack of photography subject matter. Although Dorothy didn't have a camera, if she would have, "Oz" would have been a great place to take photographs. I like to aim high. My inspiration for doing abstract work comes from a great respect of artists Salvador Dali and Jackson Pollock. Although my medium is photography, I endeavor to embrace the spirit behind their works, and I hope that this thinking influences me when I pursue a new artistic creation. Many photographers have influenced the way I shoot. From the prestigious ' New York School ' of photography, I would have to say that Carl Fischer's photography is quite amazing: he worked for Esquire and LOOK Magazines (among others), and he produced many memorable photographs that I saw and marveled at as I was growing up. Just looking at Andy Warhol drowning in that tin can of Campbell Tomato Soup (1969), you know that Fischer is a master of in-camera special effects (SFx). I work mostly with computer SFx now; nevertheless, I'm also familiar with the intricacies of in-camera SFx and with the utilization of 'illusions-thru-props,' and that is why I appreciate the work of photographers like Carl Fischer. I like pushing my photographic and artistic 'edge' outwards, and by taking ordinary objects and putting them into surreal settings, I feel that my knowledge and skills also expand. My work has been published in international magazines, including BLADE, GOLD (Standard Chartered Bank's Gold Card magazine), Dance Teacher Now, and Dance Spirit magazines. My photographs have been featured in news stories and advertisements in the Malaysian newspaper, The Star. I've also been recognized through numerous placings in photographic competitions including those with Kodak's International Newspaper Snapshot Awards (United States), BetterPhoto (United States ), the International Internet Art/Photo Contest (Japan) and the University of Nebraska (United States). In November and December 2006, I'm a featured photographer in a group exhibition of F-Stop Magazine and I have numerous photographs accepted and published in the "Reader's Gallery" section of The British Journal of Photography (BJP). Also, I am one of only six photographers featured at Digimarc's " MyPictureMarc" online gallery. |