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The work featured in this gallery is part of my evolution as a fine artist as I moved through two degrees in the medium.

The first series was my breakthrough as an artist attempting to develop an individual style and vision, titled “Beach Invasion”, I used plastic toy soldiers and a cheap plastic toy camera to re-create the allies invading the beaches during WWII. The distortion between subject and apparatus allowed me to explore the very real issue of war using a mass-produced innocuous subject. The prints in this series were all made using traditional silver gelatin materials printed 30x40” and selenium toned. The series was limited to five prints per image (limited availability remains). The second series featured here is from my BFA exhibition, titled “Army Men Attack!”. In this series I took my innocuous soldiers into the busy city in the middle of the day. I again wanted to address the issue of war, in this case a homeland invasion, using the toy soldier as my symbolic stand in for the real. Using an in-camera panorama technique I was able to alter the city into a war torn landscape. The prints in this series were all made using traditional silver gelatin materials printed 20x40” and selenium toned. The series was limited to ten prints per image (limited availability remains).

The final series in this gallery is a sample of work from my BFA Thesis Exhibition, titled “Red Vs. Blue”. In the series I was addressing how media influences polarization of our nation through the idea of two teams, much like a team based sports scenario. The conceptual basis was pulled largely from the philosophical writings of Slavoj Zizek and his theory the “Courage of Despair”. In the photographs I use backgrounds appropriated from mainstream media outlets, and my loyal toy soldiers painted to represent one of two teams, to create scenarios where both Red and Blue are being put in harms’ way and must band together to survive. The injured soldier portraits are the unfortunate outcome of the polarization that the mainstream media does not like to showcase. The series was not available to purchase, but can be requested for exhibition.

Todd A. Dobbs practices 21st Century Photography, using a hybrid mix of primitive pinhole and toy cameras, and digital editing and printing technology, to achieve his conceptual vision. Todd's work has been exhibited and published internationally. Photographs from recent series are available for sale or exhibition.