Hatch series
The three other images on exhibition form his Hatch series, which explores the theme ‘the birth of a car’. Inspired by a picture of a hatching chick, Oefner decided to show a manufactured object being born just like a living organism – in this case a Ferrari 250 GTO breaking out of its shell — to create a witty high-octane take on the beginning of life.
The first two images show a 1962 Ferrari 250 GTO – again a detailed scale model – breaking out of its shell. The third image shows one of the empty shells left behind among several others yet to hatch.
Oefner started by making a latex mold from the model car, which was then filled with a thin layer of gypsum to create the shell. Several dozens of these shells were made in order to complete the next step: smashing the shell onto the car to create the illusion of the vehicle breaking out. This step had to be repeated numerous times until the desired results were achieved.
To capture the very moment where the shell hit the model, Fabian connected a microphone to his Hasselblad H4D. Every time the shell hit the surface of the car, a microphone picked up the impulse and triggered the flashes and the shutter.
While both the Disintegrating and Hatch series feature cars they also fool the observer into seeing the images as computer-generated renderings rather than the real photographs that they are.
“I have always been fascinated by the clean, crisp looks of 3D renderings,” says Oefner. “I tried to use that certain type of aesthetic and combine it with the strength of real photography. These images are also about capturing time: either in stopping it as in the Hatch series or inventing it as in the Disintegrating series.”
About Fabian Oefner
Since 2011 Oefner has shot crystals of color rising in reaction to a speaker’s soundwaves; spectacularly captured the patterns created by magnetic ferrofluids pushing paint into canals and has taken color-crazy photos of paint modeled by centripetal forces. He’s even captured the interaction between a lighted match and the physical properties of whiskey.
“I’m trying to use this phenomena and show them in a poetic and unseen way and invite the viewer to pause for a moment and think about all of the beauty that is constantly surrounding us,” says Oefner.
You can see more of these works detailed and demonstrated in a recent TED Talk and on a photographic blog Oefner publishes on his projects.
