Hiller's stop-action photos always dazzle viewers

by ADAM McGRATH

To look at one of Martin Snyder's recently finished multiple time-lapse photographs, one might think that he traveled back in time or to a different dimension in order to capture the beautiful setting and posturing present in the scene. And in a sense, you would be right.

"There are a few things that I have that are 'musts'," Snyder said.  "I demand that my work be photographic in nature.  When someone looks at my work, I want them to say 'How did you take this picture?'  I want them to believe it's a photograph." 

On the other hand, Snyder's photographs are images that cannot be created in nature.

Snyder, 56, was born and raised in Germantown, but "most of my friends were from West Mt. Airy." The graduate of the 224 class of Central High School, who has lived on Mermaid Lane in Chestnut Hill for 21 years, is an avid pioneer in what can be called composite photography. The scenes he captures do not seem to be rooted in one particular time or place. This effect is achieved because each of his finished pieces consists of multiple images, often taken at different times and in different locations. Through the use of technology, Snyder creates what is ultimately a photographic image that has been digitally spliced together.

"My great interest in early 20^th century Surrealistic work," he explained, "always had me wishing for a 'magical' camera that could capture more than it could see; I wanted to be able to do with my camera what the surrealists did with their paint brushes."

Snyder's progression into digitally manipulated art went through several stages. He had always been interested in the creative arts, and indeed has earned Fine Arts degrees from the Philadelphia College of Art, University of the Arts  and Beaver College (now Arcadia University). This path led him to teach in the Philadelphia school system, as well as at the University of the Arts, his tenure there ending after 18 years.  

It was during his time at the University that Snyder really found his niche in the world of photography. In the early 1990s, the artist discovered the computer, and his imagination told him that this tool could potentially revolutionize the way art was created. Ever since the first computers became available for commercial use, Snyder knew he could finally create photographic images of his dreams.

"My first computer was this little black box, a Mac Plus, with something crazy like four megabytes of RAM, and then I got this application called ImageStudio, and I couldn't believe what I could do.  I could scan my images in, and then play with them.  That's what really turned me on, when I suddenly realized I could go way beyond what the camera and the darkroom could do."

The technology that Snyder finds essential in his creation of art has gone through many transformations (the latest installment being Adobe PhotoShop), as have his range of ideas and visions.  Some of the programs Snyder taught in his University classes don't even exist anymore.  But his inspiration and vision never die.

Snyder is actually responsible for co-founding what is now called the Professional Institute for Educators at the University of the Arts. He, along with another teacher-friend by the name of Mark Scott, were approached in the late '80s, when computer graphics were just getting off the ground, to design a new curriculum geared specifically to future teachers.  

Snyder says of his experience as a teacher: "One of the greatest things about teaching is the learning.  I learned more about what I taught than anything else.  The application I'm most expert in is Adobe Photoshop, and every time I open that application up, I learn something new about it."

The magnificently composed pictures seen here represent the latest step in Snyder's process to unite film and technology, the most refined version of his collaboration.  Snyder's earlier work was more along the lines of stop-action photography. 

He says, "Those stop-motion images in turn led to what I'm doing now.  They were composites of many different images, as opposed to the usual time-lapse photography.  The camera I have now has a very advanced high-speed action, so I can take about six pictures per second.  What would really draw my attention, though, was the activity I could capture."  And whether these activities were a skateboarder jumping a bench, or a revolving door at rush hour, they assumed a fluid motion, when in reality they are a composite of motions.   

Snyder claims his influences (and idols) in the field as the 19^th century photographer Edward Muybridge and Philadelphia native, the painter and photographer Thomas Eakins.  He believes if they were around today, they'd be doing what he does, experimenting with multiple image photography.  The experimenting is really what drives Snyder's work.  He likes the idea of creating images that cannot be produced in nature. 

"It's all just an experiment," he says.  "Being a graphic designer, it was an experiment with design as well as technology.  The most important thing is the computer.  I will not use a digital camera, cause I just don't think they're there yet. Now, is there anybody else that does what I do?  No.  Though I'm not sure if anybody else would want to do what I do.  What I do is purely experimental on my part. The kind of work I do now is completely different from what I had been doing for the past few years.

"What I do now is somewhat of a surrealist interpretation of my surroundings. Now, instead of capturing an image and playing with it, keeping within the bounds of the scene, I now go out to shoot with a particular image in mind.  I envision the scene that I want in my head, and then I have to go search for the components.  It's a gradual process." 

Now, it takes a lot more time to get an image together.

"I actually have an image in my head first, and then I will go out and take pictures of the components I need to create that image.  Sometimes it's difficult.  With this image (The Looking Glass), I needed an antique mirror.  And when I finally found one, it was old, dilapidated, and painted black.  But that was what I needed.  So I bought it, gilded it, and it worked.  There are at least four components to this image.  I photographed her, then the mirror was taken separately.  I placed her in the mirror, and then I took a photo of her from the back.  And just put it all together."

Now, if you were to ask Snyder what meaning we can take from his photographs, he would simply smile at you. "To me, the meaning of my work actually is the doing of it," he says.  "Viewers can take what they want from the image as they please, but I don't have any deep psychological interpretations to give."  

Snyder's work has been exhibited at numerous galleries, museums and educational institutions such as Woodmere Art Museum, Chestnut Hill College, Goat Hollow, Hahn Gallery, Artists League of Mt. Airy Gallery, Earth Light Images Gallery and Franklin Institute-sponsored S.C.A.N. (Small Computers in the Arts Network) exhibits, which were highly prestigious international competitions. He is now head of graphics for a firm called Transcontinental/CC3.

Martin Snyder lives in Chestnut Hill with his wife, Susan Agard, a special education lawyer, and their seven-year old son, Ethan.  For more information, e-mail martist@Comcast.net