Zachary P. Stephens: Are We There Yet?

In Are We There Yet? Zachary P. Stephens, a photographer with a photo-journalist background, has created a series of large format digital prints that are a lusciously hued and offbeat foray into the world of constructed reality. He has set out in this, his master’s thesis at Vermont College of Fine Art, to explore modern fatherhood. His composited images create scenarios that “play out” anxieties and more routine moments of being a dad. He cites the influence of Gregory Crewdson, Sally Mann and Tina Barney, all of whom have trained their lens on family members. Research from books, such as The Way We Never Were by Stephanie Coontz, and The Modernization of Fatherhood by Ralph LaRossa underpin the series.

Stephens’s compositing process is seamless. Yet upon closer inspection, the lighting may be bizarre or placements impossible. All elements in the pictures are in focus, creating a shortened, tightened space. The sum effect is disorienting—yet also compelling. Further undermining the appearance of realism, the images have the ramped-up color and glossy surface of an advertisement. One is aware of all the shiny things that make up family life in the 21st century. The implication is we ourselves have become, in our parenting roles, products of hype and messaging.

Despite the subject being children at play or a baby asleep there is an overall sense of inquietude. In BBQ, for example, a grill’s fire has gone out of control, its flames shooting up, as one of Stephens’s children douses it with a hose—while he relaxes back with a beer.

There is a subtle wry humor which saves the photographs from being maudlin. The books on fatherhood show up as an autobiographical note in several images; in Laundry Day, the latest contraption for helping the youngest addition to the family get to sleep is sitting idly by with a doll stuffed into it while the baby sleeps on the edge of a couch crowded with laundry. Some single-frame photographs are included in the exhibit—moments that belie a sense of wonder and generosity about fatherhood, adding a softer layer.