The heads series

The work of Phillip Lorca Dicorcia and his 'heads' series really remind me of the illumination my Bill Henson.

For the series DiCorcia used spotlights and strobes to pick out walking pedestrians on the streets to illuminate and single them out. He did this to give a dramatic feel to their facial expressions.



I really like this series, as it seems like such a simple idea, just simply spotlighting someone and then capturing their facial expressions. They work really well also in singling the person out, as I feel drawn particularly to them and their faces, not the other people on the street.



This image is really good.
You would almost expect this to be set up, and the man to be putting that expression on purposely, however because it is authentic it makes the photograph so much better, and DiCorcia has captured a really genuine moment.




Although much different to that of Bill Henson's work, there are still some close similarities. They both spotlight a key moment, or rather a mundane moment, but when it is lit it becomes more dramatic.



I'm really excited by coming across both of these artists and it is inspiring me to move forward with the project and take influence from them both. The next step it to figure out what I am going to shoot and how I am going to do it.

Next steps/Bill Henson

So where do I go from here?

I think I need to go back to my research and really focus on what it is I want to show, what my idea is.

I came across the work of Bill Henson from looking at the Victoria and Albert exhibition book Twilight. Throughout his career he has produced images that show an extraordinary illumination that have a real sense of drama and the supernatural to them. A lot of his work has been made at the twilight hour, like the two photographs below.





However it is in these works that I am mostly interested in with Henson, these photographs that are enveloped in darkness, giving illumination to only certain parts of his subjects.



I particularly like the image above, and it is perhaps one of my favorites by him. The photograph is so minimal, as given predominantly a dark image, with only two hands lit up. I really like how we are only able to see what he has given light to in the frame, how we are unaware of anything else that may be happening, it really makes me think of the unknown.




This is something that really interests me, the unknown, where we can only see what is given light so, and everything else we are unknowing of.
Could I perhaps use this to develop into a theme?
Could I construct a narrative in which the viewer can only interpret through what is given light to?



I really like the photograph below, where all we get to see is half of the persons face. What I find so interesting is when I consider what they are looking at, why do they have that blank, somewhat shocked expression on their face. It really leaves it open to interpretation, the way he has photographed it and the colours on the face he has used are really a way of making the image seem colder, darker and more eerie for me.

Thoughts...

As I have stated I've hit a wall with my project, an.d before I carry on and it's too late I need to think about what it is I want to show.

The other night I discussed my ideas with one of my housemates, and we tried to pull out ideas for a new direction. We talked about how people in the group crits felt discomfort towards my earlier images, and it made them think of someone coming towards them, perhaps a murderer or stalker, and that it made them feel anxious or scared. I decided that I liked this idea of making someone feel unsettled or unnerved and anxious and so it could be a direction to go on in.

Seminar presentation

For my unit 303 presentation, I decided to make a powerpoint of the research I had used to date, talking about my inspirations and ideas, and then going on to look at my images so far.

The presentation went quite well, and I certainly feel that I am getting better with talking in front of groups of people about my ideas. I was told that my images looked quite good, and the stylistic approach was good, and that I just needed to work on my theme a lot more.

Interim exhibition

For the interim exhibition deadline I put forward two images from my second and third shoot; in my opinion the best ones from them.

For the first image it wasn't difficult to edit down from the shoot and choose it, as for me it stood out the most and worked the best. The light looks really good, and it manages to illuminate the right amount in the image, giving just enough to capture the creeping figure.




This is the second image that I selected for the interim, and it was a little more difficult to edit down and choose. I didn't want another image from my second shoot and my first shoot wasn't good enough, so I chose to use a photograph from my third shoot.

The one below I feel works the best from that shoot, as the darkness holds most of the image, and directs the viewer to the figure on top of the hill.



Since putting these two images together on the steel board, I've realized that they don't work together as a series, due to the fact they seem to just copy each other. I've also realized that my work still does not really have a set theme or idea and so I feel that I need to move on from these images, using them as a stepping stone to where I am going to go next.

Third shoot

So after the group critiques I decided to go and shoot for the third time, and really try to make these images quite unnerving and expand on the idea of the unknown.
Once again I used car headlights as my light source and positioned them behind a hill, creating a silhouette of anything that was on top of it when photographed from the other side.

The images below are ones where I had the sky at the top of the frame and had darkness taking up most of the image.

This next set of images are ones where the sky and model are central to the frame.


And finally this set of images are ones where I was closer in to my model.

The shoot itself went quite well without any hitches, and I like the way that the images look. The light is really strong and the orange glow works well with the surrounding darkness, however I think it is these aesthetic qualities that I like more, rather than the ideas and theme in the photographs.




The photographs like the one above seem to me that they only work as single images, and that it is difficult to get them into a series. The problem is that they would all look very similar, and essentially just be re-makes of one another.





This image above is my favorite from the shoot and I like the composition that I have used here where the darkness takes up the majority of the frame. I like the lighting and colours that have come about from the headlights mixing with sky, however I don't think it communicates fear and anxiety to me, or really looks at the idea of the unknown.

I'm finding it hard to say that these images don't work for the brief as I like the way that they look, however It's clear to me now that I need to figure out what my theme is and focus on that rather than the stylistics of an image.

Tim Simmons

In the group critiques I was told to look at photographer Tim Simmons who work seems to be quite relevant to what I am doing currently. Although i'm not greatly interested in heavy manipulation to images, and the way that some of these look, there are certainly aspects of these photographs that I like.




In particular I really like this image below, as it really works along the lines of showing the supernatural, there is an eerie and uncomfortable feel to it.





An important thing about these images is that they contain no models and yet they still manage to create the effect that I am looking for, and so it could be interesting to play around with this, and just use locations and lighting to create a sense of the unknown.