For my photography assesment, I decided to focus on colour. A narrative had to be created through our images, they could be new ones that we had taken, old photographs or found ones. It could be an abstract or traditional story, as long as the photos had a flow and ran smoothly together. The purpose of this task was to test our creativity and ability to meet deadlines, we were asked to do this on the spot, it was rather spontaneous so we had to think quickly and act upon impulse. We only had two hours to complete this task so it was stressful for me at times as I felt restricted majorly by the time limit.
N A R R A T I V E S E Q U E N C I N G I N P H O T O G R A P H Y
D U A N E M I C H A L S 'The Fallen Angel'
Duane Michals is an American artist who is well known for his black and white photography. He creates sequences of images that build a narrative which can be interpreted in various different ways. There is never one meaning to a photo, however the original meaning could be seen as the one that the artist (Duane Michals) set out to convey, but we can look at this sequence and create many stories through inferring different things from what we see. The photos that are shown appear to have been taken rather quickly as Michals has captured blur and movement. To me, this creates a sense of panic, rush an urgency. There is also an element of mystery within these photos as we cannot see the faces of the people or make out any distinct, memorable features. The images feel rather cold and they are quite heavily contrasted to further remove facial features and build on that sense of mystery. I do not feel as if these images are positive or carry any happiness, to me they seem rather negative as they seem to be quick and rushed as if their actions are shameful. There is also some religious links and imagery as the title 'The Fallen Angel' means an angel which rebelled against God and was banished from heaven. I feel as if the narrative is one which holds guilt and shame. To me this story appears to be heavily tied to christianity and sinning, going against what God wants. I believe this as before the man has sex with the woman he has wings and is in a natural form and then afterwards he transforms into a dark, bent over figure, as if to say he has lost his innocence and is no longer in a 'pure' form. I believe this is why the images are also quick and rushed as he knows he is doing to the wrong thing but he cannot fight it, it's as if he doesn't want God to witness what he is doing, so he tries to be quick and then rushes away afterwards, panicking and full of shame, as that is what his religion has taught him to feel like after going against God's will. This sequence is very emotive, we can see this through the man's posture and the way in which it changes throughout. In the sixth image I feel as if there is some foreshadowing created as the way in which he is sitting suggests that he is very upset or guilty and wants to hide himself. In the seventh image, we see him change and become covered in dark clothing, suggesting he has lost his innocent, bestial side and that he has now been tarnished. The sequence is in chronological order and it flows, almost like a flip book. Personally I think that these photos flow very well and work together, I believe that they create a good overall style and aesthetic.
M A K I N G M Y O W N P H O T O G R A P H I C S E Q U E N C E
We were given the task spontaneously and only had a time period of two hours to complete it. I ran into many troubles and difficulties because of these two reasons. At first I didn't really have any ideas for a narrative or theme and I found myself over complicating the task and stressing out about the final outcome instead of just completing the task in little bits at a time. I wasted a lot of time doing this but still managed to complete the task within the time limit. After thinking through a few ideas I decided to focus on something very visual, colour. I wanted to explore how colour can completely alter the meaning of a photo and make us think and feel completely differently about an image. I wanted to put images that were rather saturated and bright with images that held no colour to see how they would effect each other in a sequence.