Dean's approach to taking photos isn't an ordinary one by any standard. Before picking up the camera he envisions how the final photograph will look. What he sees is a process, taking the photo is just the beginning. Each image tells a story. Die Strafbar Photography was founded on the principle that the art of photography will remain the pinnacle of the business. What Die Strafbar Photography wants you to see in this exhibition is the varied palette of Dean's artistic range coupled with depictions of his vision of life, beauty, depth, and cynicism. When shooting images of a child versus an animal, or refuse, the process is the same; all the images become his interpretation of the subject.

"Art, to be true art, has to make you feel something. Good, bad, alive, unclean. Anything. Undeniably, that is what Dean's photography does." ~Andrea Dorman

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"You don't want to know what I think, you just care what I see. My photos won't tell you what I think. They are meant to be a mirror. They'll tell you what you see." ~Dean Michael Dorman

Dean chose the name "Die Strafbar" for its improper German translation "the punishable. . ." An incomplete thought that can be finished in myriad ways. The phrase helps to explain his many styles of his approach to photography.

For the past 3 years, Dean has been using photography as more of an extension of himself. He shoots what he feels. After living in Germany for a few years, Dean moved back to the US. Living among the European culture and lifestyle, he began taking photography seriously and thus was the birth of his first images, the Broken Jesus Series. It began with a Sunday walk through a local cemetery. Just strolling along he noticed how many Jesus statues and relics were broken, discarded, and left for rubbish. Seeing this stirred a deeply emotional reaction; similar to holding a mirror up to one's life.

Philosophically, emotionally and morally; how will people react these images?