Martini Man by Pierre Drouin

Like Anita Cruz-Eberhard, Pierre Drouin is one of several photographers we've seen this year who are not using a camera. He begins his process by making about seventy flatbed scans of his subject, using only the light that the scanner itself emits. He then edits the resulting images together, composing "a cubist picture, just like if you unfold a sphere on a flat surface."

Photographer Jonathan Johnson also uses a scanner to create images. He's scanned the height of an entire tree and the lifespan of a garden. Working outside, natural light provides an unpredictable element that clashes with the light from the scanner, yielding entirely abstract results. Drouin's results are also abstract but relatively precise, each scan yields a crisp file to work with. In the distance between these two artist's work, the diversity and range of the scanner as a photographic tool are evident. The results feel very painterly, with Drouin, of course, most closely referencing Picasso and Braque, and more recently, David Hockney's photo montages.

A little bit farther out of the art park lie other creative uses of the scanner: Via enthusiasm unbridled, I stumbled upon scanwiches: scans of sandwiches for education and delight! (Just for fun, it is Friday after all!)

Working with or without a camera, we want to see your work! Send it our way!