image taken from: http://davidcastillogallery.com/xaviera-simmons-american-book-covers/
I wanted to talk about this picture and the works of Xaviera Simmons in general because after looking at picture after picture of emotionally manipulated lighting compositions I found it rather striking to find a picture with such "natural" light. Now, I used quotes because I don't mean that this is the only piece I've seen in such a long time that used light from the actual environment. I mean that this piece simply uses light to make the character visible and tell the time of day. The light here doesn't tell us anything about the narrative the artist is trying to convey. You can tell the scene is taking place sometime during the spring or summer during a clear sunny day but that is all. The person in this piece could be feeling any number of emotions and the story could be a comedy or tragedy the light alone doesn't tell us that. But, even this in-fact does tell us something about the photo. The artist chose to stage this shot during this time of day, she chose to shoot in this location during this season. Did she want the audience to only focus on the actions of the figure not the mood of the scene that surrounded her? Was she striving for a truly realistic shot to fool us into thinking this was a real scene not a staged photograph? Did she mean for the light to have a feel, to be welcoming and bright, and for that feeling to be in contrast with the figure inside that environment? When can a lack of a discernible mood be used by a designer to enforce a mood or style?
No comments:
Post a Comment