By the time I received this assignment for American Health Magazine in 1989, I had more or less mastered creating little ‘planetoid’ collages within my composite panoramic style, the first one being ‘Boat, Cape Cod’ which I had photographed in Wellfleet in 1981. Prior to this, I was creating very regimented 180/360 gridded panoramic collages using my special device on a tripod. The boat image, composed of 9 strips of 6-35MM frames each, was done ‘freehand’, wherein I sought to create essentially a fisheye view in sections. The challenge, while shooting so many frames, was keeping track in my head of where I was within the overall design. Working without a plan, I did pretty well, and always enjoyed the imperfections. I made a slew of these planetoid pictures over the years. For this assignment I changed it up by turning the design inside out. On top of that, I worked off of a sketch to ensure the creation of a tight circular form. I was getting paid after all. It was an environmental piece and I sought to make it all about sky.
I photographed it in the fields on the campus of my alma mater, SUNY Purchase College, using olde pal Jerald Frampton as model. As it turns out the boat image wasn’t the first planet shape collage I had ever made.
BOAT, CAPE COD 1981 – 11″ X 14″ C Type Contact Print, Ed. 10
I found this sketch from a student project on panoramics, a foreshadowing of my future photography endeavors. Over the next few years I returned to this same grassy field to do more collage assignments, including the last two shown here.
BODY BUILDER – Photo print collage – Client: Money Magazine
David McGlynn is an artist living and working in New York City and Beverly, MA. Born and raised in the Bronx, NY, he received a BFA from SUNY Purchase in 1979. Mr. McGlynn enjoys success as both a fine art photographer and as a professional commercial photographer. His specialty is photo collage, and he has been refining his unique style for the better part of three decades. He has shown his work at several group and solo shows, including the Alternative Museum, Queens Museum, Hudson River Museum, Luring Augustine Gallery, the Neuberger Museum and Broadway Windows. His work is included in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, the Erie Art Museum, the New Britain Museum of American Art, the Forbes Gallery Collection, and various private collections. In addition, he has created large-scale works for permanent installation for a variety of clients, including Disney/ESPN Zone restaurants, Fox Network headquarters, and AT&T Corporate Headquarters. His work has appeared in publications including WIRED, Newsweek, Time, Money, Forbes, Vibe, ESPN, New York Times, Traveler, Popular Science and Metropolitan Home. Corporate and advertising clients include Miller Brewing Company, ‘Absolut McGlynn’ for Absolut Vodka, Kodak Funsaver cameras, Compaq, American Express, Disney, Dime Bank, Polygram/Mercury Records, and the World Financial Center. Mr. McGlynn has received several awards including: American Photography Annual 7, 10, 11, 35; Society of Publication Designers Annual 18, 23, 27, 28 and 30; Graphis Poster and Graphis Digital. Portfolio spreads of his artwork have been published in: Life Magazine, Popular Photography, Idea (Japan), Photo Magazine (France), and Photo District News.
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David McGlynn 