Artist Entry: Dalton Rooney

Forked path, Lloyd Harbor, New York, 2010

Along the Belt Parkway near Canarsie Pier. Queens, New York, 2009

Looking west toward Jamaica Bay. Queens, New York, 2009

Near the West Pond, Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge. Queens, New York, 2009

Near Hidden Pond, Hauppauge, New York, 2010.
*all images are part of the "Outer Lands" series, no sizes or print details are listed, nor could I find them anywhere*

I chose to learn more about this artist because of his interview on Joerg Colberg’s blog, Conscientious. I am primarily a landscape photographer myself, and it was interesting to learn what originally attracted him to the genre and what exactly he is trying to portray in his images. There is something about his landscapes in the series “Outer Lands” that make me slow down – I feel as though I spend much more time with these than most photographs I see. Perhaps the reason why is because they each seem to have a little “Easter Egg” in them. If you take the time to look, you’ll see the rusted chain link fence, the man behind the trees, the piece of wood that has washed up onto the shore. As far as my own studio practice, his opinion of large format cameras and the methodological approach required when using them, really makes me want to go back to film and slow things down in my own work. Also, Rooney is inspiring in the fact that he seems to be a newly emerged artist; his CV dates back to 2007 and he only has a combination of ten publications and exhibitions listed.

Biography


Dalton Rooney is a photographer from Brooklyn, New York. He is currently working on a long-term project on the landscape of Long Island, entitled “Outer Lands”. He first started out creating urban landscape shots, but moved into more traditional landscapes when he first noticed the wetlands at the far end of Brooklyn on the way to the airport. A series of trips and explorations led him to the point of “Outer Lands”. "About." Dalton Rooney. Web. 17 Sep 2011. .

Quotes

“Many of the ideas that make up the series have been around since those early walks, but I had trouble clarifying and organizing them. I think it took a long time for me to find a clear voice in my pictures, and I experimented with a lot of different styles and techniques over the years. It was a struggle to pin down exactly what it was about the landscape that I found so interesting, and to capture that in a way that I felt was honest.”

“Well, using a large format camera is a slower, more methodical way to work than with a pocket camera or eve medium format. I know that probably drives some people crazy, but for me it’s a benefit rather than a drawback. A field camera is a very economical device - there are no electronics to fiddle with, no zoom lenses, and I am limited to how much film I can carry. I find that those limitations actually help me focus my attention in a way I can’t with an SLR — I feel more deeply involved in the process of image-making. I read Eugen Herrigel’s Zen In The Art of Archery last year, and it changed how I think about the tools I use. One of the lessons I took away from that book is that technical proficiency is tied to intimate familiarity with your tools. Technical proficiency is important because it allows you to think less about the technical aspects of what you’re doing and just get on with actually doing it.This all sounds kind of obvious in retrospect, but it can be hard to suppress the desire to constantly be fidgeting with equipment. The mechanical nature of the camera inspires intimate familiarity, in my experience. My proficiency has finally gotten to the point where the equipment fades away while I’m working, and I am simply making pictures.”
Dalton , Rooney. "A Conversation with CPC 2010 Winner Dalton Rooney." Conscientious. Interview by Joerg Colberg. 06 October 2010. Web.





Interview
http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/extended/archives/a_conversation_with_cpc_2010_winner_dalton_rooney/

Gallery
Dalton Rooney is not affiliated with any physical galleries, however, he has gathered quite an amount of recognition via the contemporary internet scene. His work has been featured on Joerg Colberg’s Conscientious, in Humble Arts Foundation’s group show, on booooooom, Flak Photo, and many other websites.




Artist Website
http://daltonrooney.com/