Narrative Photographers

So, for my summer blog I have to share photographers that inspire me, or ones that I just generally admire.  I also need to find which route of Photography I want to go down. At the moment I have just been doing a bit of everything, such as landscape/nature and working with people. Next, I want to work on Narrative Photography. I enjoy telling stories within my work, so I think this will be a good route to carry on looking at. I think it's interesting when you first look at a photograph and you have to work out what's going on. I also think it's interesting how different viewers will read the photograph completely differently to what I see, or how the photographer intended to portray a certain scene. Sometimes, photographers want their work to be 'obvious' and that's fine, however, I like to have a puzzle. I like to read deeply into an image, for instance, I like to work out what significance a certain prop can have in the context of a photograph i.e if it's been placed there purposely or whether it's just a coincidence and how it can change the meaning of a photograph.

Narrative Photographers

 

Kristina Drobny Bond

 "Photography allows me to become the storyteller. With one click of the shutter I inject my humor into the daily routine of these “characters” and permanently decide their fate. I can create the stage with my subjects depicting scenes from my mind. The images are purposefully odd, and oddly realistic. At the first glimpse they appear to be normal, everyday scenes. Upon closer inspection, however, one discovers the character involved is blindly acting on some sort of obsession that does not fit the initial interpretation of what is occurring. The viewer watches, realizing the possibility to play that part as well (just swap out one fixation for another), and thus the character and narrator, viewer and subject, share the same role."

Something that also interests me is how words can completely change how you view something. You can control what you viewer thinks to a certain extent. Even something as simple as a title can place an idea into your head to give you an idea of what the photographer intended to show you. For instance with Bond on her website next to her photographs she will give you some words that inspired her to create the image. When I first looked at her image I would create my own idea of what story is being portrayed. Then I glanced next to her images and there would be her telling me what it should be and sometimes that can ruin my ideas and then I'm not excited then . 

 

This is one of Bond's photographs.  To me I have the idea that this is set in America somewhere cold and isolated due to the tools I see on the wall and the snow boots that she is wearing.  The props are obviously placed. To me they add to the personality to the character or could be seen as she is trapped, due to the stack of water, tinned food, books and saucepan. Yet the saucepan is really clean, so that stops the illusion of trapped to me, as why would you carry around a brand new saucepan, it's like she new she was going to be trapped.  The character is holding something in her hands, not sure what it is, her hands have been placed holding one another.  The direction of gaze is past the camera, deliberately making us want to know what she is looking at and if it adds to the story.  It seems to be daylight and not too cold as she has her coat off, yet the light is on which is quite strange.  There is alot of space surround the character in the composition which is needed to show the tools.  

Her words to describe the image are

• outlasting the apocalypse
• too many sci-fi movies                

 I also just found out that she has used herself in this photograph which reminds me of Cindy Sherman. As the viewer for this photograph I understood what she was trying to show that she was awaiting the end of something such a 'apocalypse'.  Even though the food and water had been neatly placed out and she and the saucepan was too clean to have been struggling through the 'end of the world sceniro'. Also there was a light on and I'm not sure if the world was ending that there would still be electricity.   

 

This one is called life of the party. Also this one is noted under the category of 'failed'. I think this photograph is far from a failure; I think it's a really beautiful shot. Curiosity is addd to the image due to the strange posture of the character. The composition is great, we are below the character, which could mean that we are not supposed to be there or it could mean we are lower in class and that the character is of some significance to the rest of us.  I love the positioning of the character as it's creating  line and shape, which gives off great highlights and shadows off of the body.  The light is really interesting, as most of character's body is in darkness and only parts of her body are cast in light. This may be of significance to the theme of this shot. The subject seems to be alone, drinking, which could symbolise isolation or a problem that she may have. Notice how she is dressed up rather than casual, which could suggest someone else is there but not in the shot. This also may answer why the subject is facing away from something, something bad that is happening. It seems to me that she was face on but has turned away due to some problem that is going on outside of this shot.  There isn't as much space around the character, which frames her beautifully. The main focus is her, and there is no need for other props to try and the tell the story. The character does it perfectly. There seems to be artificial light, which suggests it's set at night time, which emphasises a theme of isolation. The style looks quite 60's due to what the model is wearing. 

Her work has inspired me to think about what props to add into my compositon and how they can add to the story that I want to tell.  Also it's important to think how much space you need around the main subject, making sure that you don't have negetive space dragging your viewer away from the main viewpoint. I also don't want to make my photograph to simple to read. I want my viewer to get different ideas. 

http://www.kristinadrobny.com/
all photographs I got from this website.