Burlone’s Camera Loca on Ocean Drive showcases abstraction and dynamism in photography

Burlone is an active agent in his photography, producing and controlling the movement and light in his photos. This technique has evolved into a recurring theme he calls Camera Loca — part of the title of his current exhibition in Old Montreal.

“It is not passive photography where you see and observe but have little input,” Burlone said. His method incorporates time-lapse photography and movement with a selected source of light. The result produces a dynamic image that Burlone says is subjective to the viewer, “Like a Rorschach inkblot test.”

Burlone likens his series, entitled Camera Loca on Ocean Drive, to abstract expressionism because there is an element of surprise — he can only control the shapes he creates to a certain extent. “I pursued, in an abstract expressionist way, the elements of line and movement into shapes created in part by serendipity,” Burlone said.

The series contains 50 photographs, although not all are being shown at the Hotel Nelligan exhibition. These include two banner-sized photographs six feet in length.

Burlone completed this collection in a three and a half hour session of photo taking on Miami’s Ocean Drive. Burlone had initially set about to capture the street’s architecture at night. When one of his photos became blurred due to an accidental movement of the tripod, he found the effects of the movement more pleasing than his original intentions. “Moving the camera creates something that doesn’t exist in reality, but that comes from the present elements,” he explained.

Executive director of the Visual Arts Centre, Victoria LeBlanc said that Burlone uses photography in a very experimental way, playing with our senses of dimension and space.

“His works are formally accomplished and create a sense of the universe,” she said. LeBlanc attributes the photographs with great resonance because they can represent anything. It is up to the viewer to interpret their meaning.

Burlone’s interest in night photography began in 1997. He had started a series on street kids at night and found the photos were always out of focus because of the light at that time of night and because his subjects were always in motion. “This led to the discovery of the transient nature of lights as they are seen at night. At night, it is the light that makes the scenery,” Burlone said.

Burlone has been a photographer for 35 years and had his start in 1973 as an assistant to the renowned fashion photographer Monianne. For the past 20 years he has worked as a graphic designer for the company he co-founded, Visionnaires Communication Design.

• Andrew Burlone’s exhibition Camera Loca on Ocean Drive is currently at the Hotel Nelligan, 106, St. Paul St. W. in Old Montreal. To view his work online, visit www.images.visionnaires.com