Dylan Nelson: �Familiar objects can produce an uneasiness�

Curiosity about the way the camera renders the world drives a project shot on the streets of Boston

Dylan Nelson was studying at Massachusetts College of Art when the idea for Amber Gambler struck him.

�At the time I wasn�t sure what sort of project to begin and I would go on walks through Boston photographing odd things I encountered,� the 27 year old explains. �Eventually this turned into a reactionary process where I would make a photograph and then respond to it by making a new image that shared a similar composition or formal quality. It became a �call and response�, from one image to the next.�

Nelson deliberately played with perspective and scale as he was shooting, using a long lens to compress distance and space, and the result is a deliberately disjointed, elusive set of images that puts the viewer off track. �Familiar objects can produce an uneasiness,� he says. �The specific locations are irrelevant; the images contain details that could essentially be from any urban area. I was often drawn to architectural �mishaps�, refuse, signage, and inorganic and organic matter. The photographs of these elements that are blended together into a flattened space have collage-like properties. Once I started to make these images, various amalgamations appeared everywhere.

�I would shoot in the middle of the day when the light was bright and �bad� in order to challenge myself and break away from the romance of my previous work,� he adds. �In a similar way to watching daytime television, you can come across very bizarre things during the middle of the afternoon while everyone else is at work.�

Nelson has now finished his studies and is currently living in New York, where he�s now concentrating on producing work in a studio. �I have been making images that are more preconceived rather than �happening upon� things,� he says. �Working in a studio interests me most right now.�

See more of Dylan�s work here.