With my frequent use of a flatbed scanner to generate images of props for my digital work, it was only a matter of time for my face to become the subject of experimentation in this unconventional approach to photography. Intrigued by the eerie quality of the results, I quickly developed the idea into a major art project by inviting models to participate.



It is difficult to avoid motion while remaining in a somewhat awkward position, bent over the scanner, holding one’s breath and dealing with gravity throughout the approximately five second scan. Yet, there is something captivating in seeing the immediate result on the computer screen. With the instant feedback, the models become engaged in the process and start experimenting by adjusting their position to achieve a different effect. Seeing their reflection in the glass of the scanner, they are in control, while the “photographer” is standing by. The correlation between their choices and the outcome in a form of an image becomes apparent and empowering. Call it a window to your soul; you create your self-image, the scanner just records it.



A flatbed scanner is exactly what we call it, a device for scanning flat objects. So it was my task to transcend the murky files generated by “inappropriate” use of the instrument and transform them into works of art which are now compiled in this book. The series progressed from still portraits and studies toward motion deliberately introduced during the scan. My subsequent digital explorations moved the work to the realm of the surreal, and finally touched on the philosophical expansion of our personal universe.