Make People Uncomfortable
January 26th, 2010Francis Bacon once said “the job of the artist is to deepen the mystery”…
I’m three weeks into my current portrait workshop with Ken Merfeld. This time it’s definitely all about breaking out of my box – that is, incorporating more shadows and embracing hard light sources. Our first two assignments were to shoot a portrait with a definite mood and to shoot a portrait incorporating shadows. In keeping with the theme of my recent work, the mood I chose was a dark one – perhaps introspective, or a little melancholy – what I hadn’t anticipated (because I don’t see this when I see the image) was people thinking it was unsettling and eerie. Ken always emphasizes that strong portraits elicit strong responses, so if my work makes people feel uncomfortable, I’ll take that as a step in the right direction.
The idea for the second assignment actually came about by accident. Rich was helping me set up another shot and we had a light bulb really low and as he looked up at me when I asked him to move it, I noticed the way the shadows cast by his glasses mimicked horns.
Utilizing these simple light sources reminds me that photography is all about experimentation…something that I was well aware of when I first started, but that I sometimes have to remind myself of these days…