Shutter.Stutter

I’ve been meaning to post these up for a while now, but just keep, well, forgetting.

This is a series that I did for the final assessment task of my Photography 3 class. The brief was very loose - take photos with a person or people in them.

I was interested in using fast shutter speeds to create photographs of motion suspended. I wanted a sense of surrealism, of capturing a seemingly banal moment - but with a quirk. I was aiming for photographs that revealed something new on second glance. I feel I’ve achieved this with a few in the series, but not all. I’ll let you decide.

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Inspiration came in the form of Rosemary Laing (recommended by my tutor Karen Mork) and Philippe Halsman.

Laing’s photograph of a bride jumping over the blue mountains is breathtaking. This is part of her Flight Research series.

Flight Research #5

Halsman was a photographer for Life in the 40s and 50s, and is the father of ‘jumpology‘. He believed that in a jump, the subject cannot control their facial muscles, hence revealing a ‘truer’ expression. He’s surreal photo of Salvador Dali leaping is a work of genius, I have never seen (and doubt I will ever see) anything quite like it.

Dali Atomicus

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This is Float.

Float #46

Float #23

Float #106

Float #72

Float #124

Float #151

Today was a day of much thinking and reassessments.

It is currently Week 7 of Major Project - effectively the halfway mark in the semester. We had our interim project presentations today, where ‘external professionals’ were invited in to advise us on our progress. I was lucky enough to have Marcus Piper, Art Director for Pol Oxygen amongst many other roles.

I’m relieved to say that I left the feedback session today a lot less confuddled, as I have been the past week, more motivated and with better direction.

I’m not going to undergo project overhaul, but these are the new restrictions/considerations I’ll be working with:

1. One photographic style for all subjects. I had planned to experiment with different ways of shooting and using light, but I was convinced today that one distinct style will be stronger. Duh.
2. Linking images in the series. Using similar framed images in each narrative, to tell the same story using different subjects, will make the whole seem more cohesive.
3. More range in subjects and how they relate to Skin. I’ve gotten a little frustrated with talent sourcing for this project, as most of my leads have fallen through. My tutor said: “But you’ve got to be more pushy.” And it’s true, this project will be much more interesting if I had more range. I’ve resolved to be more pushy.

I am also making the tentative half-step to use film instead. Kodak Portra 400NC seems to take the cake, thanks to the endless resources on flickr and photo.net.

Last note, I’d like to share Ryan Pfluger’s work. He’s an amazing portrait photographer, and an even better story teller. And worse - he’s only a year older than I, which makes me freak out like nothing else. How are people so talented so young?