Born in Miramar, Florida, and moving to the woods of central Florida at an early age, Aaron spent most of his time in curiosity. Having an artist for a mother, Aaron learned and experiment with many art styles and media from ceramic to oil paints, but once he found a camera and his path was made. After high school Ansarov decided to join the Navy with hopes of seeing the world and ‘become a man.’ He was fortunate enough to join a specialized rating known as Photographer’s mate. His plan was to spend only 5 years in and get out, but this plan changed when chosen to be one of only four to attend the coveted annual military photojournalism program at Syracuse University in New York. From there he spent nearly 3 years at the Navy’s flagship publication All Hands as their only west coast photojournalist.
A few months before he was to end his tour, 9/11 happened. It was at this point Ansarov made the decision to stay in and become a combat photographer. After being trained in numerous survival, weapons and tactics courses, he transferred to a combat camera unit where he made multiple deployments to the middle east including crossing the lines into Iraq during the initial invasion.
It was after his fifth year at a combat camera unit where he received an injury to his back during operations in Iraqi waters. After two years of physical therapy, Ansarov was honorably retired. Shortly after retirement (in 2007), Ansarov moved to Delray Beach, Florida where he continued his recovery and settled in his new home with his wife, 10 year old son, 1 year old daughter and newborn son
“Most of our society dictates we live our lives within a three foot bubble from each other. The only ones that see us closer are our mothers or our lovers. What do we look like inside of a three inch bubble? Naked, without makeup and without any photoshop. Exactly who we are. Not many people would like to show this. In fact this can be arguably the most intimate of a portrait a person can experience. By using a macro lens focused at a 1:1 ratio. I photograph every inch of a person’s face.
I then print these images full frame and montage them together. The result is an image of such profound detail and size that has never been seen before. When seen from a distance a viewer will see a typical face. Emotionless and plane, but when one walks up close they will be able to count hairs, pores, freckles and more.
Most everything in the media today, no matter how high definition, has been retouched, cleaned, photos hoped, etc. I want to show the world that we are all beautiful in every way and it is these flaws that make us who we are”. The only ones that truly ‘see’ us at a distance closer than our 3 foot bubble are our mothers or lovers.
They see our every little wrinkle, blemish, nose hair and more. Because they love us, they accept it with the understanding that this is what makes us who we are. But because our mainstream society dictates what is pretty or ugly, we end up living our lives at a ‘safe distance’ from everyone else, covered and hidden.
To many of us, letting one come this close to our faces is almost as bad or worse than seeing us naked. This socially significant fine art collection is meant to be seen at a larger than life scale. Each of these images is considered a Gigapixel image with each block representing a full frame 16megapixel image. There is an average of 300 per face. To see more from this project and samples please visit the dedicated website at the link below.