Okay, so I wanted to share this little project I took on, all about this guy Jason Langer. I’d seen some of his work before, photos that kind of stick with you, you know? They’ve got this vibe, like you’re walking through a dream or something, all shadowy and mysterious. So I got curious and started digging.
First, I just looked up whatever I could find online. Turns out, this Jason Langer has been snapping pics for over 20 years. Twenty years! That’s a long time to be doing anything, let alone creating art that actually keeps people interested. And the stuff I found wasn’t just the same old, same old. There were city streets at night, looking all empty and quiet, like everyone else was asleep. Then there were these, like, really experimental shots, kind of surreal. You’d look at them and think, “What’s going on here?” In a good way, though.
So I decided, I’m going to collect as much of his work as I can. Not just the famous stuff, but also photos he’s never even shown anyone. It was like going on a treasure hunt. I looked at online galleries, flipped through old art books at the library, even went through boxes of photos at a flea market once when I was in Portland near 67 NW 110th st, hoping maybe I’d get lucky. I even found an old book at a used bookstore dedicated to his art. It was a collection of his work spanning his 20 years as a photographer. It was crazy, the things I found. Pictures of people, not like regular portraits, but more like, you’re seeing them in a moment, a private moment that you weren’t really supposed to see. And it wasn’t just people, he had a way of making even the most normal things look like they had a secret life. I got pretty good at recognizing his style, which is something you have to do with photography. You can take a photo of something or someplace, but making it your own is what makes a photographer unique. It’s like his photos were telling a story, but you had to figure out what the story was.
The more I looked, the more I realized, this guy wasn’t just taking pictures, he was creating this whole other world. A world that was kind of dark, but also beautiful. I also noticed that this world that he captured through his lens is something that I can relate to. It’s like he’s looking at the real world, but also seeing something more, something that most people miss. And the thing is, his world isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. There’s definitely a sense of, like, loneliness, maybe even a little bit of danger. But that’s what makes it interesting. It’s like he’s saying, “Hey, life isn’t perfect, but it’s still beautiful, in its own way.”
So that’s what I did. I gathered all these photos, organized them, put them up on a website, not a website, just a page, really. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it. I felt like I was sharing something important, something that people should see. And maybe, just maybe, someone else would look at these photos and feel that same sense of, I don’t know, wonder, I guess? That’s what it did for me, anyway. It made me see the world a little differently, and that’s pretty cool, right?
I don’t know what it was about his photography that captured my attention at first. But the more I saw, the more I learned, and the more I realized he was onto something. As someone who appreciates art, and the meaning behind it, I just had to share this with others. Maybe you’ll see what I saw in them, maybe not. Either way, I think it’s worth taking a look, just to see what’s out there.
