BC
photographer David Ellingsen
works with a medium format camera (6x6 Hasselblad) in
traditional B&W film stock, mainly Tri-X 320 and Agfa APX 100. He
then processes the film by hand.
Most of the work in his landscape series was shot at dusk and into the
evening with long exposure times. The photographs were produced as either
silver gelatin fiber or archival pigment prints, then signed and matted.
Ellingsen also explores figurative work and portraiture in both black-and-white
and color. The black-and-white images have the quality of xrays with their
shifting, semi-transparent exposures of cropped torsos. His most recent
work, entitled "Gender Bender", portrays glimpses of a transvestite
world in both black-and-white and colour. Beautiful cropped studies show
fragments of lips and eyes as makeup is applied, or capture costumes and
poses as the figures prepare for a show.
Figurative work
Biography
Ellingsen was born and raised on Cortes Island, BC at the northern end
of the Gulf of Georgia. Many of his landscapes are shot there, on the
family farm. He attended Focal Point Visual Arts Centre in Vancouver in
the fall of 1999 and received a Diploma with Honors in Professional Photography
after an intense year.
Immediately following graduation, Ellingsen was asked to join the Focal
Point staff as a teaching assistant to the full-time Diploma Program,
and later as an instructor. He stayed for three years before leaving to
pursue his own work full time.
Ellingsen also assisted many professional photographers in Vancouver,
the highlight being New York photographer Ralph Gibson during his time
in the city. Ellingsen's work had been seen in numerous group shows in
Vancouver. His first major solo show was hold in September, 2004 at AION
Art Gallery.
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Genderbender
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