Project Two Written Statements

It was hard to choose between the photos in what I like to call the "noir" photo shoot--it helps when your subject is outgoing by nature and so very expressive. For this particular series of portraits, I mainly tried to use light as a way of framing the figure. The bright lights and dark shadows created an environment for the figure to exist in. In nearly all of the portraits, the figure was situated to one side more than the other, creating an asymmetrical composition. The lighting was dramatic and came from an overhead turned on in a dark classroom. In camera raw, I increased the contrast as high as it would go without losing its aesthetic. In noir films, it is light that often is the most important component in creating a mood or reflecting fear and dread. Similar scenes without dramatic lighting would not convey each "character's" emotion nearly as effectively.

My images can be viewed separately or together, but I think they make the greatest impact when read together. My original idea was to recreate a movie still from a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers film, with the help of my cousins who love to dance. Unfortunately, neither of them were available, so I had to improvise. I started photographing my brother in an empty classroom, and quite by accident discovered that the old overhead still worked. We turned off the lights, and Tim just started getting into different roles, depending on what wigs he tried on. The high contrast lighting, combined with the various roles he tried out, created a moody image that reminded me of old film noir movies, like "M" and "Double Indemnity." Tim's ensemble, with black tux and white fedora also made for a dramatic image. I tried to photograph Tim in front of neutral backgrounds, in order to put emphasis on the character. Shadows play a prominent role in the photos, and this is fitting considering that this is also an important element of noir films. The characters of each photo represent a wide range of old 30's movie types--the gangster, the monster, the victim. I was trying to think of a way to reproduce Chiascuro (spelling?) lighting using the overhead, so I tried putting a wig on it, and with some arranging, we were able to convey some photos that clearly showed fear with the sinister-looking shadows playing across his face. All of the themes of noir-confusion, dread, fear, danger--each is present in one of these photos, and like a movie clip, the character's emotion is easily read, and supported by lighting.

To create this image, I did some initial sketching, but really it was about creating an environment--or "stage" if you will--that would allow my subject to get into whatever character he wished to portray. I actually did virtually no stage directing. The blank wall actually worked well because it can be interpreted in many ways--it can be seen as a prison wall, or the wall of a warehouse in a dark alley. The overhead projector created a "spotlight" or "searchlight" effect, as if each character had been creeping around in the dark before a light suddenly flashed on them. The wig on the overhead created almost flame-like shadows. That accident turned out to be very exciting, and we tried several characters in this setting.

My goal was to create a photo emblematic of another time, but also reflective of someone who is close to me. Tim is a very theatrical person, so although none of the "characters" which he portrayed are solely reflective of his own personality, the group as a whole is reflective of the creative, energetic person that he is. I wanted the images to be dramatic, and I think the high contrast helped in this.

I like to think that my photos most resemble and are most influenced by the work of Fritz Lang. Lang was one of the pioneers of the film noir genre, and its emphasis on paranoia and moral ambiguity. I like that my photos have a kind of ambiguity to them as well, despite portraying stereotypical character "types." The "gangster" could be a criminal or a sheriff figure, the monster could be a threat or a victim. The man in shadow could be a crook or an innocent bystander. Lang used dark shadows to create a particular mood, and was famous for his unusual camera angles that heightened the anxious feeling of his films. My work uses fairly standard camera angles; however, given the fact that the same model is used in each photo, there is a certain amount of humor, since it is clear that each is an act. They're not nearly as dark, but rather seem slightly more exaggerated--perhaps a commentary on cliched representations of fear and anxiety, when in fact our perception of fear is really only dependent on ourselves, and people cling to cliches in order to define it. Fear is created in our minds, and by no one else. In the same way, anxiety takes many forms, but it ultimately stems from only one source.

Another reading could be the connection between our definition of self and the past, and our use of the past in order to explore and define ourselves. Often, we look to the past in order to compare ourselves and emerge as something different--yet by looking back, we never fully emerge from the past, because the past will leave its influence.

Part two

People seemed to respond positively to my images. Many commented that, given the fact that the same model was used for all shots, there was a kind of "Jekyll and Hyde" (spelling?) effect. They perceived the sequence to be more of a series of juxtapositions, rather than telling a continuous story. I had deliberately made the last two photos larger for dramatic effect, but they did seem to work well as a juxtaposition as well.

Based on the critique, the high contrast of the photos worked very well. The intense darks and lights of each image worked to create a sense of drama and the atmosphere of an old movie. The spotlight, and the shadows created as a result, also made the images strong. These aspects are what worked the best, and I agree.

I would love to do more "film stills." This particular series could definitely be the jumping-off point for the creation of a whole collection of imagined "films," featuring people I know. I grew up on pre-1960 films and musicals; old Hollywood is one of my mom's passions, and my brother and I were watching Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, and all the others from a young age. So there's kind of a sense of nostalgia with the creation of these too--and humor. It's fun for me.....and the results, with dramatic lighting, can be stunning.