Sunday, November 3, 2013

Shannon Castleman - Natalie Kohlhepp


            Castleman is currently an instructor in the Photo/Film Department here at VCU. She received her BFA in Photography from NYU and her MFA in Photography from San Francisco Art Institute in 1993. She began shooting fashion soon out of graduate school (1996-1999) when she realized that fashion photography was becoming more and more similar to her personal work. She photographed her friends and their lives in their thrift store outfits promoting the kind of grunge 90s style that is again swinging back into popularity. Larry Clark and Nan Goldin, two photographers that have also influenced my own work, heavily influence her older fashion work.
            Castleman’s use of color feels very nostalgic to me and she has mastered photographing people in simple backgrounds that still provide a corner of narrative. For me, the young women she chose to photograph feel like my own friends, only 30 years later.






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