'Now and Then' by Maggie Taylor

"For more than eight years now I have been using a flatbed scanner instead of a traditional camera to record and interpret the objects I collect. I frequent flea markets and search on Ebay for old tintypes and toys that seem to have a story to tell. Then in my studio I make small pastel drawings as backgrounds and scan each element into my computer separately. Using Photoshop I am able to arrange and play with these layers in much the same way that I worked with objects in my studio for a still life photograph. I work very spontaneously and intuitively, trying to come up with images that have a resonance and a somewhat mysterious narrative content. There is no one meaning for any of the images, rather they exist as a kind of visual riddle or open-ended poem, meant to be both playful and provocative.

Although my images are not traditional photographs, I definitely think of my scanner as a light-sensitive recording device. And there is a camera involved in making most of the images... It just happens that the camera was used over 100 years ago by a photographer who remains anonymous".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maggie_Taylor

Music: Michael Nyman, 'Lady in the Red Hat' (from the soundtrack album to the movie 'A Zed & Two Noughts' by Peter Greenaway / TER, 1985)