This collection is made up of 20 photos that I took as a personal project while at the Louvre in Paris. I titled the project “Missed Focus” as I ironically sought to capture the problem that our modern culture faces today while interacting with art. I was disappointed in the culture I observed surrounding art which led me to documenting these observations through my photographs, in hopes to create my own gallery surrounding these ideas. 

It was sad to see just how little effort people give to appreciating art nowadays. Instead of taking time to truly admire a piece of work, we just take a selfie, or snap a picture on our phones that we will most likely forget about in a week. Lasting impressions are traded for instant photos and selfies. The actions I saw in front of the most cherished pieces of art in the world were astonishing. Out of the thousands of people I saw in the museum that day, I could count on my hands the number of people that I observed simply studying and admiring the image. I observed countless selfies in front of the artworks, quick photos of these masterpieces off cell phones, and people standing in front making various different cheesy poses. Some of the greatest pieces of artwork are turned into a secondary background subject for somebody’s Facebook post; something truly disrespectful to the artist. 

The photo I  think best represented what I hoped to capture is the first one shown in the slideshow below. In this shot there are 4 different subjects: the artwork on the wall, the man observing the art, the group of tourists walking by without even looking at the art, and another group taking a selfie in front of the art. I wanted to show movement and time in this image, which is why I chose a long exposure. The long exposure helps to contrast the busyness of the tourists walking past in opposition to the stillness of the man admiring the work. In addition, the ratio of subjects in this frame are important, as there are 10 people in total. 3 of them are standing and taking a selfie, putting themselves as the priority in their photo with the art as the background. 6 people are walking past, without acknowledging the artwork, and are morphed into one autonomous blur. The last is a simple man, taking his time to appreciate the years of passion and dedication that went into creating a 10ft x 10ft painting. This ratio shows the lack of interest and respect that the average person will give to a lifetime of dedication, 1 in 10 people in this photo are appreciating this masterpiece for what it is. 

This is why I love this image, because to me it is a reminder that art is dying, and is being transformed into an outlet for us to re-paint these pictures to put ourselves as the subject. We have “Missed the Focus” on what art is, and have chosen to focus on ourselves rather than appreciate what someone else has made.

VIEW ALL IMAGES BELOW…