My favorite thing about Aaron Ruell's photography is the way that he sets up his scenes. Color is clearly a priority, as is symmetry. Most of his photos are highly symmetrical, but have some slight variance from being directly symmetrical. For example, the teacup on the table in the top photo, or the fact that the woman in the bottom photo is looking to her left instead of straight toward the camera. His color contrast is sometimes subtle, sometimes bold, but always present. He particularly seems to favor reds and yellows.
When I look at his work, I have to wonder when these photos take place. Every single shot is like a time machine. These settings don't seem like places that exist anymore; some don't seem like places that have ever existed. His work seems to encourage slight discomfort, especially for someone with a touch of OCD like me. It's like he has put together a series of almost perfect images, with just a tiny feature that sets the whole thing off. Its a "Where's Waldo?" of asymmetry.
I felt like I had to look at every photograph on Ruell's website twice. Particularly these portraits. They caught me off guard because of their "imperfections." Like in the Fish Girl photography, all of the fish (and the girl) face the right side of the shot EXCEPT the bottom left fish. And in the Napoleon Dynamite photo, the fact that the lamp shades are identical, and not mirror images, throws off the symmetry and catches me off guard -- which I guess is the point. I also really enjoy his use of color and pattern. My favorite photo is the top one because I am so intrigued by the way the mirror reflects the pattern of the wallpaper so that it shows the same patterns adjacent to one another, only different in size.
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