When we published some of Dominic Rouse's images in a recent issue of Photo Art International we had a distraught phone call from one reader who felt the need to express his vehement objection. This took us by surprise, because we had seen these surreal images as entertaining, visually dramatic, witty and technically highly accomplished There is however a macabre element to some of them and maybe it was this that unintentionally touched a nerve.

We had always intednded to publish some of the portfolio in Digital Photo Art to get the benefit of colour reproduction and because the techniques Dominic uses are likely to be of interest to our readers. We hope most readers will appreciate the opportunity to see these images.

Dominic shoots the original iamges on on 4x5 inch sheet film and 120 roll film, normally using colour transparency material (Velvia is his favourite). The images are digitised using a high resolution drum scanner.

The various elements (often 20 or more individual shots) are put together using the Dicomed Imaginator software - "the aim being to make the various 'cut and pastes' as realistic as possible, even though the images are, in essence, practical impossibilities". For one of the seies presented in this portfolio, Dominic started shooting the ecclesiastical interiors in February and did not complete the finished print until August: "Surprisingly the speediest (and most expensive) part of the whole process is shooting the figures."

Dominic outputs the finished digital files to 'traditional' monochrome negatives, which are then printed and toned using normal darkroom techniques. The finished prints (24x20 and 20x16 inches) are sold through galleries in the UK and USA in limited editions of 16, with prices starting at $600.

Dominic was born in England in 1959 and has lived for most of his life in the rural counties of Suffolk and Norfolk. He started his photographic career, aged 16, as a photojournalist working on local newspapers. He subsequently returned to college to study commercial and advertising photography.

Not surprisingly, Dominic lists among his influences the art of Salvador Dali, M C Escher and Rene Magritte, and the writings of Franz Kafka and Philip Larkin. Dominic has won several UK national awards and wa an award winner in the International Digital Exhibition Awards in 1999 and 2000.

Images by Dominic Rouse
(top let) Bushed
(bottom left) Art imitating Life

DIGITAL PHOTO ART Mar/Apr 2001