Wrap photo (left to right): NJ Mvondo, Fechi Nkwocha, Max Doubt, Rocky McCorkle, Justin King, Payat Mishra (not pictured: Raul Delarosa)
Synopsis
Inspired by true events, Blazer unfolds over 24—or perhaps 26—hours, exploring the chain of events that led Ray Burns (portrayed by actor Justin King) to inadvertently capture what many consider the greatest photograph of all time. The writing process began the moment I encountered a simple yet profound event: a photograph so extraordinary it redefined my perception of reality. Blazer is a deeply personal exploration of love, loss, and the power of a single captured moment.
The title Blazer holds multiple layers of meaning. Beyond its literal reference, it evokes themes of trailblazing and imagery brimming with energy, motion, and emotion. At its core is the protagonist’s 1989 Chevrolet S-10 Blazer—more than a vehicle, it’s a passageway for two lives: a devoted girlfriend and an amateur photographer whose greatest creation defies all expectations.
In one fleeting, real-life instant, a modern photographic masterpiece is born—an image so raw and complex, it captures all six core emotions—happiness, fear, sadness, anger, disgust, and surprise. Yet its power reaches far beyond the frame. These images don’t merely document a moment; they spark reflection on the struggles we face as a nation and are part of a larger conversation about time, injustice, and offers a new gaze by merging the bystander and the protagonist. Blazer drives into the heart of life’s beauty and the human experience, where a sequence of images come to life, and has the power to move us in ways we never expected.
Untitled Film Frame
San Francisco Bay Bridge under lockdown, c. 2020
C-print, 60 x 33.75 inches [152.4 x 85.725 cm]
Limited edition print of 1
Blazer is a short film composed almost entirely of still photography, accompanied by an original score and immersive sound design. Featuring actor Justin King and a cast of six, we captured over 25,000 photographs across several years to complete this unique project, which I call a cine-novel.
A cine-novel, historically known as ciné-roman, is a hybrid genre that merges the storytelling elements of cinema and literature. It offers an immersive experience by combining the sequential flow of reading a book with the visual richness of watching a film, creating a distinctive narrative form.
fig. 1 Cinema unfolding
Illustration expressing spatial scalability
Blazer blazes the path of a new genre of film and immersive storytelling. The project has three adaptations: an art installation, a short film with an original motion picture score, and a book.
The art installation is fully scalable, designed to create an immersive and dynamic experience. Visitors journey through various physical spaces, such as museums or custom-designed venues, engaging with an original story presented through oversized, chronological film frames, integrated lighting design, and an immersive soundscape featuring an original score. This horizontal progression through the physical space allows visitors to explore a deeper, internal vertical dimension, fostering a layered emotional and intellectual connection. Like cinema unfolding, the visitor plays a part (fig. 1).
Untitled Film Frames
C-prints, 60 x 33.75 inches ea. [152.4 x 85.725 cm]
Limited edition print of 1
It was a five-person photograph. From left to right they were: Vincent Doubt, Aileen Bowlin, Ava Bowlin, Rommel Olivia, and the name of the fifth person is unknown, let’s call them biker 4. Gathering information from the photo itself, we can glean they were at a public park to presumably watch fireworks, since the photo was taken in the US on Independence Day 2020.
The purpose of this volume is to lay out chronologically how a snapshot of five individuals tangentially came together at a single point in time. The group photo that this story circles around was taken in San Jose (California, United States), on Saturday, July 4, 2020. A USPS worker was the photographer behind one of the greatest images in history.
—Excerpt from the book
Untitled Film Frames
(starring Raul Delarosa)
C-prints, 60 x 33.75 inches ea. [152.4 x 85.725 cm]
Limited edition print of 1
Having finished covering his friend’s graveyard shift at the Post Office, and since it was the 4th of July, he met his girlfriend (and her mom, Ava) at a public park to barbecue and watch fireworks. The photographer, let’s call him Burns when referencing his photography; Ray when it comes to casual details of the story; and @rayburnz8 regarding Instagram. Ray and Gerard Majax had worked together at the USPS for years. They had many long, intense conversations. This statement couldn’t have been more true on July 3, 2020. Gerard tried his best to give Ray the news as gently as possible. Diving headfirst into a chat about the news, Ray went pale at the /v/ sound.
—Excerpt from the book
‘Blazer’
Winner CENTER Santa Fe — Social Award
“I responded to the work titled Blazer. Just this week, we have read the news about three ‘wrong address’ shootings across the country. We live through a regular drumbeat of mass shootings and mourn the lives of too many people lost to gun violence. Inspired by a true event, the work recreates and reframes a similar event and presents it as film stills. The production level, the lighting, and the casting all lend to this gruesome event a certain polish and gloss, enticing us to linger and to look for a little longer.
These images not only prompt us to think on current events but also draw attention to the struggles our nation faces.”
Untitled Film Frames
(starring Fechi Nkwocha)
C-prints, 60 x 33.75 inches ea. [152.4 x 85.725 cm]
Limited edition print of 1
Release Date: March 23, 2024
Hardcover / 522 pages / 14 x 10 inches
Blazer, Monograph
“Blazer is a timely project that resonates with many issues of our times. As a photographic body of work, it is quite different from other photobooks projects because it blends chronophotography with a script, dialogues, and staging much like a moving picture. That’s also what makes Rocky McCorkle’s work so unique, combining cinema-like images, an inventive and detailed aesthetic research, with the drama that characterizes theater.
The endeavor is impressive, from the dedicated amount of work preparing and making the project, but also turning its pages, reading and contemplating the physical book, while feeling emotional. Blazer’s pictures are moving in many ways, because they are built to trigger emotions. As Susan Sontag wrote, “The painter constructs, the photographer discloses.” (On Photography, 1977) McCorkle does both.”
—Pierre-François Galpin, 2024