PETER ROSENBAUM

These images document my partner's (of 40 years) struggle with cancer. While I have been a commercial photographer for 40 years, I've seldom used my camera inside the house (or hospital) to capture private and intimate moments when a person is most vulnerable.

The experience of making these images has been an important one. It's been a way of processing this intense, emotional experience, simultaneously allowing me to be an (oddly) neutral observer.

For me, these images look like fragments of a nightmare -- which is a pretty accurate way to describe the past 7 years.

MEMENTO MORI, literally, "Remember that you must to die."

MEMENTO VIVERE, literally, "Remember that you must live."

These images are about the beauty of life cycles.

Influenced by low light quality, odd relics, artifacts, remnants of nature, and some Dutch painting, these pictures depict the romance, beauty, and the natural process of decay.

Like much of my work, the contrast between content and form is only about the natural order of all things.

Artists, musicians, writers and models. They're not like everyone else. And because of that, they are great subjects for portraits. 

The term reliquary refers to a container or repository such as a coffer or shrine which is used to keep or display sacred relics. Relics may be the remains of saints, such as bones, pieces of clothing, or some object associated with saints or other religious figures.

Martin had the best head of silver hair any man (or woman) could want. When his hair started to fall out from the effects of chemotherapy, we made a short film of Martin having his head shaved. These are some of the still images from that day in July of 2016.

Coming after Rei Kawakubo, the Belgian designer Martin Margiela's work unleashed a new aesthetic that became part of the fashion lexicon. Editorially, it was some of the coolest clothing to shoot. The editor and stylist Ann M. Vogel and I were fans of a groupie level obsession.

Sometimes, these are the kind of images I make when I'm alone. Random found objects, fallen stuff, and sometimes something fancy. Pictures can be made from anything.

A single object, or a group of things, reflects my obsession with food, objects that trigger memories, and painting;  the 18th-century paintings of Jean- Baptiste-Siméon Chardin. These pictures are practices in composition and light. 

As a "photographer," it has always been more important to me how I make an image -- as opposed to what I choose to make an image with; models, objects, portraits.

I never believed in subject or object hierarchy. Rather, I'd say I'm content agnostic. Dumb things can sometimes make great images.

Photographs of family and a record of what and who was there. The farm also provides so many great unique locations. 

Ushering in new ways of thinking about cloth, Rei Kawakubo presented new ideas of what clothing could be; a photographers dream, actually. These photographs are from a bunch of different editorial stories that I worked on in collaboration with stylist and fashion editor Ann M. Vogel. Many of these images were never published before now. 

MARK PANICK and his band RAZORHOUSE wrote and recorded REGAN'S SONG. These images are stills from the video that we made together. 

To watch this video: 

https://vimeo.com/223215367

Mark Panick and his band RAZORHOUSE recorded St. Teresa in 2016. Mark and I made a video for the song resulting in a dark, eerie, short film about a strange, isolated man. Editor Martin Nelson imbued the footage with a dreamlike, trance quality creating the visual equivalent of a Proustian Memory. 

To watch this video:  https://vimeo.com/148265770/d8fb97d3fc

CONNECT is a song about isolation, loneliness and alienation in the digital world written and performed by Gretta Rochelle and Jack Armondo of MY GOLD MASK. The film stills here are presented in destaturated color. The short film, edited by Martin Nelson, was finished in black and white for a classic film noir look.

To watch this video:  https://vimeo.com/157319746/e2197e3925

Film stills are the photographs, created from, or, that simulate cinematic film frames. These images have a narrative beyond any particular documentation and look like they may have come from actual movie film frames.

Sometimes they do.

An editorial story for the Chicago Tribune Magazine. Fashion editing and styling by Ann M. Vogel.

The Missouri farm was the ideal location for a story on American Designers. The beautiful farm day turned into a downpour. Drenched, we continued working through the rain, the weather becoming an important element in the images.

Photographing elegant dresses by American designers (Donna Karan, Geoffrey Beene, Vera Wang, Carolina Hererra, Isaac Mizrahi, Todd Oldham) on the farm seemed like such a natural thing to do. Taking the glamour out of context is part of the aesthetic that Ann and I share.