Cody S. Brothers

CLICK HERE TO VIEW VIDEO OF CODY’S PROCESS

Photographer Cody Brothers was born in Farmington, New Mexico. After attending West Point Academy and, later, exhibiting works at his first gallery showing in New York City, Brothers decided to devote his time to photography. Inspired by Dalí, Picasso, El Greco and Paul Strand, his work concentrates on abandoned farms, crumbling homes, neglected churches, aging cemeteries, forgotten cars and other objects, set within the vastness of the southwestern landscape, which he expresses as a narrative of “the western abandon.” He works almost entirely with infrared film, using a range of different cameras, including a 4 x 5, a hand-made pinhole, and a 6 x 17 panoramic. Shooting pictures in the early-morning or late-afternoon with a black-and-white infrared film is what he enjoys best because of the dreamy effect and the length of the exposure times required to get a great shot.

Cody captures his analog frames, then scans and renders each frame as a black-and-white digital chromogenic print. Each print is then typically finished in a more contemporary style: he mounts the large format digital print on an aluminum composite substrate that is sealed with a UV over-lamination, eliminating the constrictive feel of traditional framing, and accentuating the wide-open landscapes he captures.

There are few contemporary photographers who have the ability to transport a viewer to a particular location, and make that viewer feel as if they have known that exact place intimately. But Cody’s eye for location makes a two-dimensional black-and-white frame do exactly that.