Falmouth Photography MA PHO702 CRJ week 3
14 February, 2021
An image interests me regarding multiple interpretations
I select one of Hannah Starkey’s photograph shot in 2007.
This low-key photo shows a woman drinking something like a cocktail while smoking alone at a bar. She has stylishly cut black hair, unknown whether it is dyed or natural, and her face is hidden, so her emotion and even race or age group cannot be read. She may be tired of relationships and having a drink on her way home from work. Or, maybe she is just meeting up with her boyfriend and going to a club. This picture has a constructed taste overall, although there are some unset unbalance elements.
If you are familiar with Starkey’s artwork, you will soon notice that this image has several typical symbols of her photography. The first thing to note is the mirror that occupies a large part of the composition. A mirror or reflection frequently appear in Starkey’s photographs which support to complicate the composition and form multi-dimensional meanings in one image. What is unique to this image is the fact that she does not appear in the mirror. It seems to be manipulated digitally to give some meaning on purpose. That might be this lady’s vacant heart or a lack of a certain perspective on women in general.
Next motif is a woman smoking a cigarette. This depiction makes me feel something like a rebel spirit. Cigarette smoke is also effective in creating a feeling of air.
Incorporating graphical elements such as murals and posters is also one of her characteristics. In this case, the tattoo of an anime-style crying woman carved on her arm may speak for her emotions.
Starkey mentioned in her interview that she intentionally combine structured elements and documentary ones. Her ultimate interest is in how women are represented in the world since she considers that there are a very narrow idea of what women are and people might not be able to reach out full potential. Charlotte Cotton commented on her early photographs as “a hybrid of observational and constructed photography and a conscious rejection of the biases that circulate in the image environment at large.”(Starkey et al., 2018) I learned from her photography that cinematic tableau is not only directed aesthetically to remind you of a fairly-tale-like narrative but also able to add depth by combining meanings at various dimensions that also sublimate ambiguity into abundance of the real world.
My practice in relation to aesthetic, technique and concept
In terms of aesthetic, my practice might be fundamentally categorised as cinematic tableau. I shoot them assuming to display by a large print. The sense of scale owing to the crowd and luxurious props is not the selling point, but it is a kind of landscape photography with a small number of subjects.
Technically, use of the same type of film and processing procedure used in modern commercial films, KODAK VISION3 250D and ECN2 process, is the primal feature of RESPECTIVE CINEMA project. This negative film is one of the most common film stocks adopted for modern feature films such as “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”(2015) and “James Bond 007 Spectre”(2015). I decide to use this method to achieve the same texture as an actual movie. I consider that there may be a specific feature in the texture that shows something cinematic.
The concept of my project is as introduced so far. I will compare it with various photography theories while learning in this study block.
I select one of Hannah Starkey’s photograph shot in 2007.
Starkey, Untitled, June 2007
This low-key photo shows a woman drinking something like a cocktail while smoking alone at a bar. She has stylishly cut black hair, unknown whether it is dyed or natural, and her face is hidden, so her emotion and even race or age group cannot be read. She may be tired of relationships and having a drink on her way home from work. Or, maybe she is just meeting up with her boyfriend and going to a club. This picture has a constructed taste overall, although there are some unset unbalance elements.
If you are familiar with Starkey’s artwork, you will soon notice that this image has several typical symbols of her photography. The first thing to note is the mirror that occupies a large part of the composition. A mirror or reflection frequently appear in Starkey’s photographs which support to complicate the composition and form multi-dimensional meanings in one image. What is unique to this image is the fact that she does not appear in the mirror. It seems to be manipulated digitally to give some meaning on purpose. That might be this lady’s vacant heart or a lack of a certain perspective on women in general.
Next motif is a woman smoking a cigarette. This depiction makes me feel something like a rebel spirit. Cigarette smoke is also effective in creating a feeling of air.
Incorporating graphical elements such as murals and posters is also one of her characteristics. In this case, the tattoo of an anime-style crying woman carved on her arm may speak for her emotions.
Starkey mentioned in her interview that she intentionally combine structured elements and documentary ones. Her ultimate interest is in how women are represented in the world since she considers that there are a very narrow idea of what women are and people might not be able to reach out full potential. Charlotte Cotton commented on her early photographs as “a hybrid of observational and constructed photography and a conscious rejection of the biases that circulate in the image environment at large.”(Starkey et al., 2018) I learned from her photography that cinematic tableau is not only directed aesthetically to remind you of a fairly-tale-like narrative but also able to add depth by combining meanings at various dimensions that also sublimate ambiguity into abundance of the real world.
My practice in relation to aesthetic, technique and concept
In terms of aesthetic, my practice might be fundamentally categorised as cinematic tableau. I shoot them assuming to display by a large print. The sense of scale owing to the crowd and luxurious props is not the selling point, but it is a kind of landscape photography with a small number of subjects.
Technically, use of the same type of film and processing procedure used in modern commercial films, KODAK VISION3 250D and ECN2 process, is the primal feature of RESPECTIVE CINEMA project. This negative film is one of the most common film stocks adopted for modern feature films such as “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”(2015) and “James Bond 007 Spectre”(2015). I decide to use this method to achieve the same texture as an actual movie. I consider that there may be a specific feature in the texture that shows something cinematic.
The concept of my project is as introduced so far. I will compare it with various photography theories while learning in this study block.
- Reference
- Image