Filmmaker Stephan Dalyai has created a short film of Pojzman’s work that will be played during the opening reception of Pojzman’s gallery exhibit at the James Coleman Gallery. Featuring some of Pojzman’s best works the film explores the process behind the finished works and introduces the world to this dynamic photographer while providing further insight to his passion, inspiration, and motivation.

AN ARTIST’S INSPIRATION

Like any good photographer Olivier Pojzman, was trained to focus on a single shot, eliminating the surroundings by isolating the subject. But the vastness of landscape photography fascinated him and he was frustrated when he tried to capture its magnitude in a single picture. In 2005, inspired by the diversity of the United States as it was portrayed classic American road films, he set out to use the power of the digital medium to reflect his vision of the American landscape using panoramic imagery. “The moment I arrived in this country, I knew I was home,” remembers the French born photographer and artist. “I love the size …and its openness…”

From the beginning, Olivier identified with panoramic photography in a very natural way. He noticed, when shooting landscapes he used his still camera like he would use a motion picture camera. The images reflected in his first artistic works were more like a movie sequence. Like a cinematographer, he had to carefully examine the shot and decide how wide to pan the camera, how many frames were required and how to translate those elements into a still photograph. “I am literally traveling with my still camera, going from one place to another in a physical sense,” he says. “But I also go from one place to another in the technical sense, moving in a fixed course, as a piece of the mechanism,” he explains. “Perhaps I should have been a cinematographer but I really love still photography. It is tangible media. You can touch it, frame it, carry it, show it around, etc…”

When he was unable to find the kind of large-scale images that he wanted for his own home, he set out to shoot them himself. In the process, he developed a new technique for shooting and printing panoramic photography that would become the basis for his critically acclaimed and commercially successful fine art.

A NEW TECHNIQUE EMERGES

With a tripod mounted digital medium format camera, Olivier pans the horizon, shooting multiple linear images of a single landscape, taking pictures in a 360-degree angle. It sometimes takes 20-30 visits to a location to get the perfect sequence of photographs and then the real work begins. At his computer, as if working a puzzle, Olivier painstakingly stitches as many as 15-20 images together to create his panoramas. This phase of production can take as long as 50 hours in the studio. “I enjoy the slow progress of the retouching,” he says, “making things come to life on a computer screen.” Since he cannot see immediate results when he’s shoots photographs, post-production is where things slowly come together, similar he says, to a painter’s process.

The finalized image is then printed onto a massive cotton canvas (42 inches to 15 feet in length) and stretched on a wooden frame in a giclée style. The resulting photograph has the texture and balance of a painted masterpiece. The immense size of his panoramic projects is reminiscent of his artistic influences: David Hockney, William Turner, Edward Hopper and Ansel Adams. He achieves his vision by utilizing forced perspective to rob the eye of peripheral vision and stretch the capacity of the human field of sight. He creates a work of art that is in his words, “the fusion of a painting and a photograph.” “The scale of this country is amazing,” he says. “I believe the best way to translate and render its wideness and beauty in the two-dimensional format I have developed. For me, panoramic photography is preferable, because it better reflects better my vision as an artist.”

THE ARTIST’S SUBJECT

Always excited to refine his new technique, Olivier set out to capture the beauty of one of his favorite subjects – California. He realized the same things that lured early filmmakers to Southern California also attracted him as an artist. “California is very photogenic and very iconic,” he says. “Its diverse geography makes it one of the most beautiful states in the US.” California’s deserts and mountains, the ocean, its national parks and forests — cities like San Francisco and LA… the photographic possibilities are limitless for Olivier. Southern California’s exquisite light and great weather also inspire him, as does the inherent spirit of creativity in its people. “This is a very dynamic place to live,” he says. “An amazing location to experiment with things we like to do.”

AN ARTIST’S CALL TO ACTION

Spending so much time in the midst California’s most exquisite natural treasures, Olivier has become a champion of the environmental cause. Not only does his art turn an ordinary room into a visual experience, it makes a powerful statement. “As an artist, it is also my way to document a moment in time – in this case, the early 21st century,” Olivier says. As the environment and global warming continue to make national and international headlines, Olivier’s art informs the visual consciousness, encouraging those who appreciate his work and art to keep the world a beautiful place. “The world is not just a place where we live as a commodity,” he says. “We are a part of it as essential elements, like air, water or light. If we neglect these elements and do nothing to keep and protect them, we will be held responsible for endangering the lives future generations.”

THE WORLD TAKES NOTICE

Since Olivier founded IrisWork studio to showcase his work in February of 2005, his artwork has displayed at some of Hollywood’s most exclusive hotels and exhibited at Southern California’s finest galleries, including the James Coleman Gallery in Santa Monica. Private collectors and interior designers flock to his studio, eager to acquire his unique large-scale panoramics for their clients. The unique style, scale and possibilities for custom-made images, have made Olivier and his art, a sensation in the world of high-end décor.

For Olivier, it’s a chance to share his unique vision and passion for the country that he is so proud to call home. “I want to show nature and its beauty — its reality (the good side of it), its peacefulness. We tend to take the environment for granted because we are too busy and too consumed in our own daily routine to look at it. I would like to make people stop for a few seconds to look up and around. I want to make them take a breath of fresh air and get inspired by this surrounding beauty. I want to make them dream and meditate. The world is a beautiful place and its beauty needs to be recorded and shared with others.”

Alyson Dutch / BDPR