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LOCAL FEATURE
City sights through different lens
Gay photographer transforms mundane to 'abstract urbanism'
Phil LaPadula, Express Gay News Friday, February 03, 2006
Photographer Jeremiah Jenner transforms shots of everyday items into abstract art. This photo resembling a drooling dragon with two eyes is actually the corner of a fountain.
Jeremiah Jenner got his first camera when he was six years old. The small Instamatic was a gift from his mother, who encouraged her son's creativity.
As a kid growing up in Rochester, N.Y., one of the first places Jenner recalls photographing was the nearby home of George Eastman, the man who founded Kodak in 1892 and brought photography to the masses with his easy-to-use cameras.
The Eastman home's fountains, gardens, mazes and European architecture fascinated Jenner. The house in Rochester is now a photography museum.
Years later, Jenner transformed a fountain outside city hall in Fort Lauderdale into one of his most popular abstract art pieces. The piece resembles a dragon with two eyes and a drooling mouth. Jenner created the effect by zooming in on an obscure corner of the fountain and slowing down the film speed to enhance to drips of water.
"I like to take everyday objects and transform them into art," says Jenner, who has completed assignments for Holiday Inn Corporation, Blondie, Anheuser-Busch and the United Way.
Turning reality into abstraction
He has labeled his work "abstract urbanism." His specialty is taking real objects from urban environments and turning them into abstract artwork.
Local gay art fans can view Jenner's work at Stonewall Library & Archives in Fort Lauderdale. He is ArtsUnited's Artist of the Month for February, and the gay arts group will honor him with a reception Feb. 6.
Jenner's Stonewall exhibit is titled "Passion."
"Everybody down here is doing palm trees and landscapes," Jenner says. "I wanted to do something 180 degrees different. I've always been into cityscapes."
The abstract effects come from Jenner's experimentation with changing the speed of the film and adjusting the camera's aperture to let in more or less light.
In one of his pieces, he transformed the ordinary holiday scene of Christmas lights outside a bar into streaming, comet-like trails of light. He produced the effect by slowing down the shutter and moving the camera in a sweeping motion.
"I like to bend light," Jenner explains.
In another shot, his fancy camerawork turned the sparks of a Roman candle at a fireworks event into a swirling abstraction that resembles a Jackson Pollock painting.
Some of his favorite places to shoot include Lincoln Road, Liberty City in Miami, the Dixie Highway corridor and Route 441. He is not afraid to venture into dicey neighborhoods or to walk down an obscure back street to get a good shot.
Jenner says he likes to capture "the pulsating energy of the city," which he thinks is most visible at night. He therefore does most of his shoots in the evening hours.
The crackling cold light of neon
Neon signs are a part of the urban landscape that turn him on. In fact, in some of his pieces, he creates phrases out of neon words that he's photographed.
"Cold light amazes me," he says. "When I hear the crackling and buzzing of neon, it's music to my ears. There's something very ethereal about it."
Another of his passions is music. Years ago, he played the drums in a local rock band. He's currently working on a piece titled "Contrane," inspired by Jazz musician John Coltrane.
"When I listen to music, I see colors," he says.
He says one of the things he has enjoyed most about photography is studying the technical aspects.
"It's a combination of math and science," he says. "I spend a lot of time reading tech manuals."
Jenner's work was recently displayed at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport, Red Bar Gallery in Miami, ArtServe and the Master's Mystery Art show in Miami, which benefited Florida Atlantic University's art department.
His work is currently available at the Gallery of Unknown Artists in Hollywood. And in May, the Starbucks coffee shop on Lincoln Road will present an exhibit of Jenner's work.
Jenner ran an aerial photography business for several years. He produced aerial shots for tourism brochures, condominium projects and corporate year-end reports and newsletters. He taught art classes one summer to underprivileged kids in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.
Currently, he works as a graphic artist for a local ad agency. He also moonlights as a figure model, posing in the nude for art students at Broward Community College and the Art Center of South Florida.
"That's my toughest gig," he says with a smile.
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