Jeff Cowen

In Jeff Cowen?s world of photography there is a struggle for words to describe the process and the final product. This is because there is so much depth in the relationship between the photographer and the subject. Jeff Cowen is often described as a ?painterly? photographer. There is no such thing as the superficial point and shoot with the Cowen method.

Cowen has described the intention as being to capture the split second before the ?event? or the split second after. The relationship between Cowen and the subject is crucial to the outcome. He many times orchestrates the person being photographed to be looking straight into the camera. This builds a relationship between the subject and the person looking at the photograph. It almost seems disrespectful to refer to any of Mr. Cowen?s photographs as ?photos.?

The second phase of the photographic process for Cowen is the ?painting? part in a dark room. The image has a soul and a spirit and Jeff Cowen uncovers them and displays them artfully. Another extremely important aspect of his work is accentuating the movement in the photograph. This is sometimes where the tearing and chemical application comes into the process. Images are torn out of one piece of work and pasted into another. Then the collage is photographed again. Jeff Cowen explains that he has experimented keeping the images smaller but it just doesn?t work. Most of his gallery collections are displayed in life-like sizes.

Mr. Cowen?s work is lauded and respected all over the world. And to think it all started when he was eight years old and his father tore up the first pictures he took. It?s obvious that it was all part of this magnificent artist?s destiny.

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