I take pictures
People pay me
I love what I do
Excerpt from Kustom Garage story about my work!
Ford Motor Blue
Michael Dorman’s Art Form and Passion
“Ford Motor blue runs through my veins,†he tells me. I laugh, but then I see the masterpieces he creates, and I know he’s serious.
Michael Dorman’s photography speaks to every man that’s ever had a passion for something he creates. There is an intimacy to his work that only a true car guy could understand. If cars had souls Michael Dorman would capture them. He has a way of finding the details that make each car unique; suddenly a roadster is no longer a roadster, it is a machine with history. The metal forms a face, a face tells you a story of its long haggard past of sitting in a barn, or blazing along a track at over 100mph.
Its rare to find a man so committed to sharing his love with the world. Michael is not a point and shoot photographer, to him, each shot is carefully composed, every line is considered, and a portrait is created.
I watch him adjust a camera that looks as old as the cars he is shooting. His movements are quick yet methodical, as if he was born knowing how to use this ancient contraption. Which begs the question “When did this all start?†Michael finishes fine tuning his camera and begins, “One day when I was eight years old, I just happened to stumble into a neighbors darkroom, and from then on I knew that photography was what I would be doing for the rest of my life; to see a sheet of photo paper turn into a perfectly preserved memory is priceless, a piece of art, it’s a gift.†Indeed it is a gift, a gift that few posses, the ability to convey a moment, and feeling in time forever.
Michael is a very traditional photographer, yet you wouldn’t know it judging by the cutting edge style of his photographs. Film is his favorite medium to work with. “There is just something more pure, more mechanical, about using film. I hate digital.†A love of mechanical things is also a large part of who Michael Dorman is. Along with an in depth knowledge of photography Michael is also a down home car guy. His Grandfather was an army air force pilot who worked on hotrods and Michael carries on the proud tradition of hot rodding himself.
One might say that Michael is committed to his art form, but I would say that he is borderline obsessive. After talking with him for a little over an hour I begin to realize that he is no fly by night “hobby photographer†this is his life. He breathes photography, and takes every opportunity for an interesting photograph. He shares with me some of his favorite photo’s each one has a story. I stare at a collection of photographs from the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, a place considered sacred to most hot rodders. I am filled with the inescapable importance of this place; a sense of awe is conjured in me, of these homebuilt creations sitting on the harsh salt raced on by the fore fathers of hot rodding.
I can feel the blood, sweat, and tears that have gone into these men’s creations, and feel the salt hit the windshield. I then realize that only a man with Ford motor blue running through his veins could convey all this in one frame.
FOR IMEDIATE RELEASE:
Los Angeles, December 18th, 2006
Michael Dorman named one of the 30 most influential Low Brow artist of 2006
2007 is almost here, and the world of Lowbrow art has been searching for a new breed of pin up girl, a new look at the hot rod world, and a way to bring some dignity back to a culture that was never meant to become a fad among teenage girls and come lately hipsters.
Michael Dorman is a part of a movement to keep the soul of Lowbrow culture alive.
Recently included along with the most influential and up-and-coming Low Brow artist of 2006 at Los Angele's Drkroom Gallery. Michael is one photographer who is taking his craft seriously and taken on the task of keeping the culture he loves alive.
For too many photographers, photography has become just snapping off thousands of photos with their digital cameras and praying for one to come out right.
Fortunately for all of us, there is a new wave of cutting edge photographers ringing in the new year.
Photographers who use and hone their craft in such a way as to bring who ever is viewing their work into the world they have created. Photographers who use real film, and compose each shot.
Great photographers don't simply capture one lucky moment out of a thousand, they live and breathe it, and they make you feel as if you are doing the same.
Michael Dorman's photography is giving the world something to feel, not just something to see, and 2007 is the year not only for him, but all serious and great Lowbrow artists.
To see some of Michael's work look for him at the Drkroom Gallery, Los Angelesand check you local L.A. Weekly for the opening of his newest photo experience,Rust and Rain.
By the way...digital can kiss my ass.
CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE:
www.dormanstudios.com
