MFA Candidacy Portfolio

old man.jpg — MFA Candidate Portfolio

By: Justin Fountain

A Moment of your time 2018-present: For me, personally, this series is an exercise in branching out. In school I mostly worked in studio settings by myself, with lights and a highly controlled atmosphere. This series is portrait photography, made with nothing other than a camera and the right moment in time. It is a celebration of that moment, sometimes shared between two strangers, sometimes as a voyeuristic look into another. Each moment tells us something new, refracting a different emotion through the lens of a camera.

A Moment of Reflection (2018) This photo is from my collection of street photography around Athens, Ga. In making these images, I was trying to get a look into something deeper than a football college town. It was a struggle, because so much of what… — **A Moment of Reflection (2018)** This photo is from my collection of street photography around Athens, Ga. In making these images, I was trying to get a look into something deeper than a football college town. It was a struggle, because so much of what remains in the city is subject to the university. It was a quest to find something authentic, something based on more than what meets the eye. These are the result of my quest for something old, something that connects us all.
This image was taken on the outskirts of a festival. A young boy sits on his own, dominated by a public yet empty landscape. In one hand, he holds a candy bar. He stares at his injured ankle, which he rests on his other leg. Was he left behind because of the crutches? Did he choose to sit here alone to eat his candy? The image is ambiguous, somber.

A Moment of Repose (2018) This photo is from my collection of street photography around Athens, Ga. In making these images, I was trying to get a look into something deeper than a football college town. It was a struggle, because so much of what rem… — **A Moment of Repose (2018)** This photo is from my collection of street photography around Athens, Ga. In making these images, I was trying to get a look into something deeper than a football college town. It was a struggle, because so much of what remains in the city is subject to the university. It was a quest to find something authentic, something based on more than what meets the eye. These are the result of my quest for something old, something that connects us all.
This image is the relic of an encounter I had one day walking down the road. He stopped to rest and smoke a cigarette It was near the end of his smoke, near the end of the day, that we met eyes through the camera lens. This image stands apart from others in the series because of the way this man looks into the camera. He is relaxed, but not unaware. He is engaged, but not threatened. After the photo was taken, he shot me a curious look, we smiled at each other and carried on.

A Moment of Respite (2018) This photo is from my collection of street photography around Athens, Ga. In making these images, I was trying to get a look into something deeper than a football college town. It was a struggle, because so much of what re… — **A Moment of Respite (2018)** This photo is from my collection of street photography around Athens, Ga. In making these images, I was trying to get a look into something deeper than a football college town. It was a struggle, because so much of what remains in the city is subject to the university. It was a quest to find something authentic, something based on more than what meets the eye. These are the result of my quest for something old, something that connects us all.
This photograph was taken outside of a bar downtown. It was a weekday, just before dinner. To many of the locals, it is the only time to go out without a crowd. I am drawn to the vibrant red counter against the pale blue of the man’s shirt, alongside just the tiniest bit of yellow gold. We as the audience have a peek at a tattoo, poking out from beneath the man’s shirt. He is considering something, maybe just watching as people walk by.

A Moment of Reticence (2018) This photo is from my collection of street photography around Athens, Ga. In making these images, I was trying to get a look into something deeper than a football college town. It was a struggle, because so much of what … — **A Moment of Reticence (2018)** This photo is from my collection of street photography around Athens, Ga. In making these images, I was trying to get a look into something deeper than a football college town. It was a struggle, because so much of what remains in the city is subject to the university. It was a quest to find something authentic, something based on more than what meets the eye. These are the result of my quest for something old, something that connects us all.
This image is one of the more confrontational images in this series. This young man and i met eyes on opposite sides of a narrow street, both of us waiting to cross. Thankfully for me, his look of intense scrutiny did not change as I snapped this image. I find the way the foliage behind his head mimics his hair in the wind very compelling, as well as details about his arms.

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A practice of information and denial. Created under the study of artist Paul Pfiefer.

Sparknotes Version below:

For context, this work began during a class with Pfieffer:

In the similar vein of the work of artist Paul Pfieffer, this video piece explores some of the deeper meanings behind basic elements of the human psyche. What does it mean to have an experience? In that question, those experiences, the ones that separate the exciting from the mundane…what is the difference between them? Without doubt, the energy present at a mass gathering has a very human, almost primal element to it. With the noise, the cheering and the excitement, even one removed cannot help but get caught up in the energy. In a way, those elements are all present in this piece, as is the game in its entirety. You cannot see them except for the briefest of moments, but they are present, with evidence given through the audio. In a way similar to Pfieffer’s work, this piece has removed the expected, the focal part of the event, in an effort to make the audience question what it means to experience a thing. This work however, ends up somewhere else. How does forcing someone to experience a thing, but only through context, change that experience?