Hemingway
“As you get older it is harder to have heroes, but it is sort of necessary.” -Earnest Hemingway
Earnest Hemingway represents one of the great 20th century writers, icons, and folk figures. I wanted to explore hero emulation by photographing men who desired to look like and live in Hemingway’s image. To emphasize the hero worship, the photographs were taken to symbolize a living tribute to Hemingway and all that he embodied. To capture Hemingway’s bigger than life persona, I was influenced by marble sculpture busts of the 18th and 19th century, since sculpture represented important people and great literary heroes. To give prominence and power to the portraits, I used an 8x10 camera, photographing the men centered in black negative space anchored by the big mass of the head and shoulders. The photographs depict the self-importance of lesser men emulating Hemingway’s greatness and machismo, preserving Hemingway’s bigger than life’s heroic myth.
Hemingway
“As you get older it is harder to have heroes, but it is sort of necessary.”
Earnest Hemingway
Earnest Hemingway represents one of the great 20th century writers, icons, and folk figures. I wanted to explore hero emulation by photographing men who desired to look like and live in Hemingway’s image. To emphasize the hero worship, the photographs were taken to symbolize a living tribute to Hemingway and all that he embodied. To capture Hemingway’s bigger than life persona, I was influenced by marble sculpture busts of the 18th and 19th century, since sculpture represented important people and great literary heroes. To give prominence and power to the portraits, I used an 8x10 camera, photographing the men centered in black negative space anchored by the big mass of the head and shoulders. The photographs depict the self-importance of lesser men emulating Hemingway’s greatness and machismo, preserving Hemingway’s bigger than life’s heroic myth.