CMD X, CMD V

Cmd X, Cmd V (Cut, Paste) is a photography book and exploration in fashion photography. The work is an experiment in translating what collage could look like in a digital space, and explores the boundaries of image manipulation. For me, the work was an exercise in styling, make-up, hair, photography, book layout, and art direction. 

Centralized around image-making and the differences between human and machine manipulation of image, Cmd X, Cmd V, the keyboard shortcuts for “Cut, Paste”, reflects on the aesthetics of machine learning and what the human counterpoint is to that aesthetic. 

These images are not truly products of machine learning as they still carry much of the visual identity established through the process of the human making them. My hand is present in setting up the lighting, casting the models, styling them, doing hair and make-up, and ultimately photographing and directing the shoot. This human input, and computer interaction is further utilized in the layout of the work. Although the machine uses a series of predetermined values to create an image, I, then, am able to further manipulate, and respond to what is created by the computer through editing, and layout design from my own human knowledge and instinct. It is this mediation between human and computer that I see most useful in my own methods of creation and manipulation