By Anthony Lopez |Staff Writer|
With captivating imagery on every glossy page, Dotphotozine is an annual publication run by the Dot Photo Club with the mission to promote the very best photographic work of current and former CSUSB students.
The contents of each issue hold diverse and dynamic images, ranging from the abstract to the personal and the provocative.
In the second issue, Deana Romo provides social criticism in her photography of fashion magazines. With distorted images of cover girls, she brings into question the idea of beauty.
While sprinkled throughout the magazine are profiles of people that can make any viewer shudder with bare close ups of strangers. One in particular taken by Veronica DeBruin.
Others demonstrate the importance of setting with a series of photographs by Sally Egan and Amy Bystadt which have a set up that captures the fifties through fashion, hairstyles and props.
“[I] love the fact that most folks who see the magazine and website do not know that this is student/alumni work. We intentionally kept that quiet so as to suggest that our aspirations are professional and to avoid the usual bias that folks often have when they think ‘student work’ ” said Tom McGovern, editor in chief of DPZ.
Some of the work is truly worthy of a professional exhibition. In their first issue, a photograph taken by Micheal Ng is striking, to say the least.
A blonde model sits on the edge of a mattress wearing a light pink lingerie outfit with pearls dangling around her neck, a lamp provides a greenish back drop and a television showing a static image making the image beautifully revealing.
The photo has an intimate feel and is reminiscent of Cindy Sherman’s centerfold series, both Ng’s and Sherman’s work manipulate the viewer to feel as if they are taking a glimpse into something awkward and dark.
DPZ demonstrates why professional photography is an art, the publications is a cohesive body of aesthetic works with original intelligent ideas behind every single image.
The magazine goes beyond any other student photographic journal in providing gifted photographers a venue for publication and exposure.