Rustam Bayramov

These photo series that I’ve been putting together over the years, represent my attempt to unveil the enigmatic, inner features concealed within each individual I portray -- often times, the aspects of personality that the subjects aren’t even aware of, or rarely confront. The result is never a portrait in a classic sense of the word; the photographs aren’t impersonating an individual. It is, rather, my introspective truth made of memories, dreams, and experiences – realistic and illusory, alike. Every photograph is an attempt to take normal people out of their context and display them in a different light - a few seconds in a time machine, which I’ve tailored for them. My choice of wet-plate collodium - a method of photography used more than 150 ago, is a result of long search for and desire to unravel the appeal the 19th century photography has on me. The long exposure, so typical to the wet plate process, has enabled me to seize the anatomical stillness moment of otherwise ever moving human’s facial features; to “stretch the time” and feel the movement of light particles touching the lens plate that is fresh out of the silver solution. Developing photography series with collodion enables me to get closer to the essence of Photography - painting with light and taking my time, where both myself and the subject portrayed are immersed in a photo session long enough to feel that we are part of the magic of photography, just like times and times ago.