#FACENOFILTER

Societal Perfectionism, Deconstructed

The Project

Artist & world renowned photographer Christian Oth is in the process of creating a portrait series that defies the assumption of societal perfectionism.

Facenofilter started out as a project of capturing influencer culture in 2019. The principal requirement is that there is “no photoshop” or rather any image alteration that would substantially change an individual’s appearance. Almost like going back to an era when that wasn’t possible, but with the additional layer of getting these portraits photographed with the resolution of a 2020’s era medium format camera.

Christian has photographed subjects all over the world and this project is photographed in his studios in New York or Miami or on location in LA, London and Hong Kong.

The Light

Fortunately for the subjects, the lighting is soft. This project was never meant to “expose” or “reveal” but rather translate as the human eye would perceive that subject in front of it. The only artistic license is the subject’s willingness to sit for this session and the photographer’s skill in capturing the “je-ne-sais-quoi” of the individual.

Since that realization and clarification, #Facenofilter has become the true identity portrait, the “blue checkmark”.

The FNF Canvas Backdrop

The backdrop to the #Facenofilter portraits has been specially prepared by Sarah Oliphant for this series. Sarah has painted backdrops for many photography masters. As such the backdrop has special meaning because it removes the subject from the environment and creates this constant whether the shoot is in New York, LA, Hong Kong or East Hampton.

This work is incredibly impactful for audiences around the globe as Christian Oth strips down the layers of emotion, ego, fear, happiness, and consciousness through a multidimensional depiction of each subject infinite angles and outcomes and thus endless possibility.