Happy Little Trees

July 9, 2013 2:02 PM

Lorenzo Triburgo has photographed what he calls "Transportraits". He shoots his transgender subjects from a slightly upward-facing angle in order to portray a sense of heroism. Triburgo painted the backgrounds of his portraits himself after learning how from Bob Ross's The Joy of Painting.
posted by deborah (15 comments total)

That's an insanely cool project even without the Bob Ross backgrounds. That just makes it mindblowingly amazing.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 2:09 PM on July 9, 2013 [3 favorites]

These are pretty good!
posted by seanmpuckett at 2:11 PM on July 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

"There are no mistakes, only happy accidents." -Bob Ross
posted by Ad hominem at 2:11 PM on July 9, 2013 [11 favorites]

Good for them, and good for us.
posted by psoas at 2:30 PM on July 9, 2013

I'm sure these guys are plenty heroic but just shooting them from below is a simplistic rhetorical ploy that doesn't really achieve anything in my eyes, excepting exposing it as a cheap photographic trick that's a long way past its sell-by date. It's a shame because otherwise I do think the portraits are very good.
posted by unSane at 2:39 PM on July 9, 2013

Oh hey, I know one of these guys. Great portraits.
posted by OverlappingElvis at 2:51 PM on July 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

It sounded slightly naff from the description here, but the portraits are gorgeous and I see he managed to resist the Ross temptation to cram every frigging inch of the painting full with trees.
posted by MartinWisse at 2:55 PM on July 9, 2013

These are great. I'd love to see him do a similar project with trans female subjects.
posted by fight or flight at 3:01 PM on July 9, 2013 [4 favorites]

Beautiful portraits, beautiful men, beautiful humans. Thanks for posting!
posted by juliplease at 3:42 PM on July 9, 2013

For anyone who is interested in other trans portraits, Loren Cameron's Body Alchemy is fantastic.
posted by duvatney at 3:52 PM on July 9, 2013 [1 favorite]

Thank you so much for posting this.
posted by DarlingBri at 4:14 PM on July 9, 2013

the unabashedly-heroic centered-subject shot-from below angle makes this look like some kind of alternate universe Game Of Thrones

Everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or expression, has a fundamental right to bad portraiture.
posted by charlie don't surf at 4:39 PM on July 9, 2013 [3 favorites]

wow, as a transdude who's a big fan of Bob Ross, this makes me really really happy after a spectacularly terrible Monday

thanks so much for sharing.
posted by The demon that lives in the air at 5:48 PM on July 9, 2013 [2 favorites]

Love these!
posted by scody at 5:58 PM on July 9, 2013

I like these for their unique quality--very in tune with their subjects. Wonderful stuff. I really want to have a drink with a bunch of these guys; the photographer makes them look very interesting.
posted by kinnakeet at 6:52 PM on July 10, 2013