These our just some of the things I thought about when I hear the word spectacle:
The sheer size and grandure of the opening ceromony in Beijing was something never seen before with $100 million estimated cost it seems that spectacle costs.
Every one knows where they were when they heard Diana Princess of Wales had died, it seems that spectacle sticks in the memory.
Is wrestling a combination of the two?
All these things are really different but are joined in there spectacle and the way they are conveyed in the media. The dictionary defines spectacle as:
a:Something exhibited to view as unusual, notable, or entertaining; especially: an eye-catching or dramatic public display b:an object of curiosity or contempt.http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/spectacle
“A spectacle is something that impresses us” Will Barton
This got me thinking what impresses me?
Over the summer there was the Olympics (obviously) but something that I watched that had impressed me was the show “long way down” http://www.longwaydown.com/ and watching a documentary about Mark Beaumont http://www.pedallingaround.com/start/
obviously if I wanted to make something like this it would take weeks/months to organise and I don’t have that long so I could make a super toned down version where maybe I ride around the ring road. There is another issues I don’t have a bike, I would probably end up being run over and to get permission to do anything like that would take a lot of paper work, due to all these issues I think I’m going to try something else but maybe consider something like this project for the final artifact.
After talking to Paul Smith about my power artifact he said for my spectacle I should keep the same style but try it on an event of some sort. I think I am going to try photography because it is not something I would usually do but keep the close up style but with something going on in the images that convey a narrative maybe inn an animation or a series of photographs that link together without question.
I could do something totally different (and leap out of my comfort zone!) and take photos like Gregory Crewdson (remember him from first yeat?) where a photo is almost a non moving short film and there is spectacle in the production of the photo and the photo itself. Crewdsonshoots on 8×10 negatives which i wont be doing i will be shooting digital just because it is quicker to process than film and time is not on my side!:
Crewdson has said in his photos he likes to find the tension between ordinary and strange.
http://wecantpaint.com/log/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/04beneaththeroses300dpi.jpg
These are some of my favourite Crewdson pieces. I like the way that he stages the photo and that everything is considered before he shoots The viewer is let into a story that they can start and finish just by looking at it there doesn’t have to be any dialogue or movement the narrative is generated in the viewers head and this can change 100 times depending on who’s viewing it.
http://www.zabludowiczcollection.com/images/american/crewdson_gregory.jpg
I think this image is a great example of this I will let you make up your own mind on the story within the image.
another photographer who does stuff like Crewdson is Izima Kaoru she likes to photograph scenes with a dead body in them but the reason for them being dead is not apparent.
http://www.galerieandreasbinder.de/galerien_muenchen/werke/izimakaoru/reika/Reika442%20180x217cm.JPG
But this will not be the only image from this scene she photographs from a high angle then shoots close ups on the body and it surroundings I think this adds a new dimension to work like Crewdson and is something that I could incorperate into my work I think she uses this concept to help the viewer understand what has happened to the subject, it is almost like crime scene photography like Leonard Freeds work with the New York Police but obviously his images were not set up or staged in any way, but still have the same images (well close) but the viewer comes away with a totally different experience when looking at each piece.
http://www.brillgallery109.com/exhibits/freed/photos/12_Handcuffed.jpg
Another photographer I have looked at is Jean-Pierre Khazem and the work he did on the first ladies http://www.billcharles.com/khazem/khazem_8.htm these are obviously staged images of previous American Presidents wives i like how he has put them in situations that they were used to in the time their husbands were in power I also think the lighting is fantastic the way it captures the moment and creates spectacle and drama, other examples of his work are:
http://www.billcharles.com/khazem/khazem_4.htm
http://www.billcharles.com/khazem/khazem_5.htm
One of the original photographers who developed these styles of photography and an influence on Crewdson is Robert Adams it is a very dilluted link to the stuff Crewdson does but there is a link I think this photograph illustrates this. The one thing that separates Crewdson and the other photographers doing it today from Adams is budget, Adams had no budget for his photos he could bearley afford film to even take the photos.
Computer issues!
Just of topic a little but my computer has given up the ghost and is in the shop being fixed so having to come to the library to post which is a pain!
Any way back on subject I watched a video on You Tube about the way Gregory Crewdson works :
it surprised me to hear that he isn’t the one that takes the photo but that he has a director of photography like a film would have and in that context he is the director. finding out that it took him months to set up a photo made me think about what I was trying to achieve in 2 weeks! to create 15 photos is going to be an impossible task.
I have taken 3 photos and they have taken alomst half a day to shoot each I knew I would be out of my comfort zone but it has sunk in the amount of work involved to try and even come close to Crewdson that’s why I decided to keep my photographs mainly on one event happening in the photo not like Crewdson and Izima Kaoru who have sound stages or close of streets when they are taking there photographs, that scale is something that I cannot achieve in the time I have. for the next photos I have drawn out what I want them to look like I think this will speed up the process when I come to shoot it is also the way Crewdson works so I thought it cant be a bad thing.
Computer is back (well sort of I have a replacement) so all my images are gone but I had saved them on an external it will just take some time to get them on.
these are some of my drawings that i drew when trying to think of ideas for my final photographs
