Matt Sartain

http://www.mattsartain.com/
Matt is a digital photographer who also does a lot of photo manipulation to create surreal images. He is only 25 years old. I really like his images because he makes them look real, even when they seem impossible. For example, "The Librarian" shows a man walking around with a huge stack of books, way taller than could ever really be held up by a person; however, the way he positions them looks as if they are being balanced by this guy, and as if they could topple over at any point in time. "The Paper Airplane" reminds me of Maggie Taylor's work, but it looks real. It looks like this scene could actually be happening, and yet looking at it, I know it is many photographs stitched together. The majority of his images are backlit, which makes me wonder if he uses similar sky photos for a lot of different images. "The Balloon Ride" looks very surreal as if it should be an illustration for a movie or kid story book. A man dressed in costume with a mask on is talking to two boys who seem interested about going for a ride on the hot air balloon. I think the shadows are very well done. They are long on the ground, showing the lateness in the day, soon to be nightfall, and they are crisp, meaning it is not a cloudy night. "The Shipwreck" is kind of funny, but sad at the same time. The man looks exhausted as he paddles away from the sinking ship, but he is paddling in a little gun powder barrel that barely fits him. I like to see a successful photographer who is young and not a wedding photographer. He is using his imagination and photoshop skills to develop and piece together scenes that I've never seen before. I look forward to seeing more work by him, and trying some of his techniques on my own.