My name is Gabriel Diaz. This website contains photographs I made during and after my undergraduate art study. To help viewers acquaint themselves with my technical skills, this site’s galleries are organized by photographic technique.

"The World: as it is" contains photographs made with documentation in mind. I did not alter what the camera captured (other than adjust color, brightness, and sharpness). Nor did I deliberately alter the circumstances under which the photographs were made. This work is my attempt at "straight photography." I make no apologies for my failure to present the world as it is through photographs because no photograph will ever deliver truth to viewers. Every photographic image comes with perspective, which distorts what some might call absolute reality.

"Happenings" is a collection of photographs that depict events that I staged. I did not alter what the camera captured (other than adjust color, brightness, and sharpness). These pictures are intended to invite viewers to imagine the stories behind the action depicted. Instead of providing an illusory window to the "real world" these images are windows to a fantasy. Some events are depicted in this series AND "The World: as it is." No category is perfect, sorry.

I made the "Self Portraits" gallery to showcase my ability to work with others and manage the camera timer. If a photo credit is not offered for an image (in this or any other gallery) chances are I made it. However, a number of talented folks helped me create the images in this gallery. I thank them for indulging my ego and or the demands of the Yale undergraduate photography program. If this work particularly interests viewers, I'd recommend they look up Anthony Goicolea.

The "Double Exposures" gallery shows images made by exposing a piece of film in a 6x6 camera twice. This technique involves far less control than combining images digitally (which could produce very similar results). In these types of exposures dark sections of the exposure become transparent, showing content from another exposure (or black if both exposures are dark in the same place). Lighter areas of the exposure are denser and closer to opaque. If two bright sections overlap they tend to become white.

The "Composites" gallery shows images that are made from multiple photographs. Each one is a photorealistic collage designed to reveal itself as such after some observation. Unlike most photographs, which purport to “capture a moment”, these images are a number of moments patched together. Despite knowing that, it is difficult to refrain from reading these photographs as single moments. I challenge viewers to abandon the idea that photographic images represent captured moments.