Figurative Figures

With a strong aversion to eye contact, Coombs uses manipulated glass between the camera and his subject matter. Dissociating visually strengthens the emotional connection for Coombs who then captures difficult moments for him to define in words. Moments of arousal, passion, love, and most difficult of all, connectivity. Coombs attempts to project himself into the figure that is captured in order to connect, resulting in almost faceless portraits symbolic of the blending of sitter and photographer. Coombs views this series as self-portraits via surrogacy, using the sitters as translators for the emotions he can not express in words.