Tom Hussey is an American Photographer who specialises in Commercial Advertising and Lifestyle Photography. The people who had fought in the Vietnam War inspired his earlier pieces of work, he had made friends with many men and women who were part of this war, and so their stories and battles greatly influenced his work. This resulted in his first exhibition in 1994, which involved 36 black and white photos accompanied by 36 personal writings placed up in The Center at High Falls, Rochester Room Gallery. from then on, Hussey went to produce work that caught the eye of many art lovers, and he attracted the attention of clients around the world, who paid him to create certain styles of work for their purposes. As well as creating his own work, Hussey has also taught Photography at a college level to students in Rochester Institute of Technology in New York and Texas A&M University-Commerce. Hussey's most known project 'Reflections' from 2010, won him a Gold Addy Award from the American Advertising Federation and got a spot in The Communication Arts 2010 Photography Annual. I really like Tom Hussey's work as I feel you can relate to some of it yourself, especially if you used to do something you love, but you don't do it anymore. Also, I think that the Reflections work fits in well with 'Beneath the Surface' because as you can see, the featured models see themselves as what they used to be, but they appear to be a lot older and not in that profession anymore, so even though they aren't what they used to be anymore; they still see themselves as this and therefore may act like this as a result.
Reflections
This project was created in 2010, for clients Novartis’s Exelon Patch (Pharmaceutical drug company) and is probably Hussey's most known creation. I think the idea of this is really clever and quite heart warming, because the people who the models are seeing in the images, are of themselves in the past, but as local heroes. Many of the models were around for the World Wars, and many of them see themselves as service people such as Firemen, Nurses and Soldiers. As I briefly mentioned earlier, the people in these images see themselves as who they used to be, not who they are today, and people around them do not understand (as they look quite confused and puzzled in the images). I think this links with 'Beneath the Surface' well as like most of the artists I am studying, they are showing that things aren't always what they seem to people, and just because they are smiling for example, it doesn't exactly mean that this is how they are feeling. This topic mainly, could lead to issues for the person; maybe they see themselves as being useless because they are no longer how they used to be. I really like how Hussey has manipulated the images so they look like this is exactly what the reflection of the person looks like, I feel that this adds to the overall authenticity of the piece.
Dog Show
The clue is in the title; this project was taken at a dog show in America, more than likely for a client. The photos are of the dogs and their owners, and they also have quotes on them from the owners. This project is quite a tricky one to work out, but when I look at these photos, I see the pressure that Dogs especially are under when competing for prizes. After watching Crufts for many years, I know that some people will go to extreme lengths in order to make their dogs win. In this photo in particular, I see a dog who looks apprehensive and a little bit nervous, looking at 'Beneath the Surface', you could say that even dogs can hide their true feelings when it comes to something like this. They perform each trick outstanding, but deep down they are not feeling right due to the added pressure and strain from the owner. Something I like about this project is that the subject matter is the dog itself; you can clearly see the entire dog, unlike the owner. I think this reflects on the fact that sometimes, the owners get more credit due to their 'amazing training' when in reality, the dog is more responsible for it's own actions I would say. I like how these images are quite bright as well, these make the photos seem more alive and exciting to me, as the dog looks quite down. I think the use of quotes also makes the images more interesting, but they make out that the owner knows how the dog is feeling, and this relates to the point I made about 'Beneath the Surface', anyone, even dogs, can disguise how they are truly feeling.
