When it comes to my preferences in photography, I tend to lean towards the staged narrative over documentary or street photography. Gregory Crewdson has always been a huge inspiration because the elaborate production value and intriguing use of tableaux create a very polished, cinematic image. However, lately I’ve seen my interests gravitate towards photographs that are less polished.
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| Example of a typical Gregory Crewdson setup. |
Photographers like Weegee, Bruce Davidson and Helen Levitt have been grabbing me because their pictures seem to weave a narrative thread into the sporadic, unplanned environments that they shoot in. Their photos achieve a similar narrative construct to Crewdson, but their execution and the aesthetics of their work are much more flawed and, consequently, more real.
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| Bruce Davidson |
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| Bruce Davidson |
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| Weegee |
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| Weegee |
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| Helen Levitt |
For my final project, I'd like to shoot a series of photographs that works as a loose, cinematic narrative without the rigid structure or staged tableaux of, say, a Gregory Crewdson photo. I come from a film studies background, so the easiest analogy I can draw from the cinema to illustrate my intentions is the French New Wave movement of the early 60's. Directors like Truffaut and Godard were taking their films away from the sterile, artificial sets on film stages and into the streets of Paris, using real locations and people to tell their stories. The result was a raw, crude picture of Paris in the 1960s whose flaws added a layer of truth and beauty to the films produced during this time.
While I'm not entirely sure what I want to focus on with this series of photos, I know that I want to achieve something similar to these New Wave films: the impromptu, documentary style of shooting combined with a cinematic narrative structure--utilizing my surroundings as they exist instead of manipulating or staging the pictures.
I plan to shoot 35mm color negative, because its low cost and the portability of an SLR camera will allow me to shoot more footage in less time than if I shot 4x5 or even 120 film. I'd like to print traditionally in the darkroom, blowing up the prints to at least 11x14 size but potentially 16x20 depending on how noticeably the image quality degrades. I like the grain structure that 35 produces when blown up and I think conceptually it suits the project.
I plan to shoot 35mm color negative, because its low cost and the portability of an SLR camera will allow me to shoot more footage in less time than if I shot 4x5 or even 120 film. I'd like to print traditionally in the darkroom, blowing up the prints to at least 11x14 size but potentially 16x20 depending on how noticeably the image quality degrades. I like the grain structure that 35 produces when blown up and I think conceptually it suits the project.
The slide photo assignment had me thinking about photography as a nostalgic device, and I might choose to focus the attention of this project along similar lines. I enjoyed using the slide projector, so I might incorporate a slide show into the project alongside the prints I make.
It's apparent that the idea I have is abstract in its current form, but I hope to start shooting immediately and formulate a more structured statement as time goes on.
It's apparent that the idea I have is abstract in its current form, but I hope to start shooting immediately and formulate a more structured statement as time goes on.
