Seth Lower

Bio

Seth Lower was born in Newark, Ohio in 1981. He received a BFA from The University of Michigan in 2004 and later worked as a photojournalist for several Detroit newspapers. Lower received a post-baccalaureate certificate from and is currently pursuing an MFA in photography at the San Francisco Art Institute.

Statement

Between 2002 and 2005 I worked as a photojournalist for several newspapers and agencies, including the Associated Press. I was taught concepts like objective reporting and empathy, into which was peppered a generic theory of artistic aesthetics: a good photograph is visually pleasing and a great photograph translates a story. Simply put, the best journalistic photographs rely on extreme spectacle and false emotional identification: a widow weeping or a reunited family embracing.

After finding this act to be totally flawed and maligned, I'm now interested in acknowledging these problems of representation via the dual performance of portraiture and the sometimes-violent power dynamic that happens between artistic inquiry and subjective experience; I'm not interested in accurately representing another's experience.

I use a common formula with all of my Night Portraits: I place the model somewhere outside and, under the darkness of night, hit them with my strobe. I typically take only one photograph. The darkness leaves them consistently vulnerable and uncertain. Basically, I use direct flash to reiterate my role as photographer and the photograph's role as a flattened document from a real event. The photograph is evidence of this split-second flash event. The surprise allowed by total darkness works in two ways: I can't decide what expressions I prefer, nor can the model reasonably prepare a self-conscious posture of identity, resulting in a more pared down photographic interaction.