high key inspirations
Photographs by Gareth McConnell. These “simple but highly eloquent portraits of outsider figures, survivors who have lived life to an extreme,” (Steidl) are each captivating. The interesting characters portrayed within the constant environment encourages the viewer to analyse, explore and contemplate. His use of natural light and shallow depth of field lends a fine art aesthetic to the photographs, and emphasizes the cool loneliness of the subjects. I like the odd fusion of toughness and tenderness.
“Born in Carrickfergus, McConnell’s own experience has been shaped by the violent tensions of Northern Ireland’s recent history and there is a strong autobiographical element in the dialogue and empathy he develops with his sitters.” - Steidl
Cade Martin’s portraiture is beautiful and a little bit sad. His fashion, on the other hand, is grand in a simple kind of way.
Faces of New York
Faces of New York, a series by Simon Hoegsberg is made up of portraits from people of New York for whom Hoegsberg claims he felt “a strong urge to walk over and say hi…who immediately attracted my attention”. He spent an entire month walking around the city, searching for people with magnetic personalities and fascinating faces. He asked each subject “What do you think about your face?”.
Name: Joan Darrow
Age: Secret
Occupation: Image-consultant
What do you think about your face?
I think that God has given me a beautiful face. I’m very grateful for my face. I think that a lot of things in my life has to do with my faith in God. With my faith in God I express beauty, it’s coming from within me, from the Holy Spirit. When I think of the Holy Spirit I feel like I’m projecting beauty. So therefore I have a beautiful face, praise the Lord.
It’s also about accepting the face I have. It has to do also with acceptance. I mean, I could go out and have plastic surgery. And then I would look like a different person, so why would I do that? I’m not ashamed of the way I look, but that’s definitely a spiritual thing. It’s not a worldly thing, because the world says, Oh no, you go and you have this done and you have that done, and…
I don’t wear very much make-up, because I don’t think it’s attractive. I don’t want to show off the make-up I’m wearing, I want to show off my face because I am pleased with the way God made me.
Name: John Toriello
Age: 55
Occupation: Unemployed
What do you think about your face?
I would like to be a little better looking than what I am - you know, boxing and everything. When you get plastic surgery they don’t do the right work. I boxed for three years at the Grammarcy Club in Manhattan. It’s a hard business. You take punches, and sometimes you got to go home after the fight and put a towel around your neck.
In the fight that I broke my nose in I had the guy out, but I made a mistake. I dropped my hand, and he caught me. I broke my nose in ’73, but didn’t get it fixed till ’80-’81. I went to this doctored till ’80-’81. I went to this doctor Reeding on Park Avenue, and boy, he did a job on me! He got a hammer and chisel and rake and this and that… I say, “Oh, jeez, at least it’ll come out…” Well, I – ahh… I wasn’t that happy with it, so I went back a few weeks later, he says, “I can’t make it any shorter” - because they measure the distance from your chin to the tip of your nose - and he says, “It fits your face, what do you want?”
I wanted it smaller. I wanted a Tom Jones-type of nose; you can barely see the freaking thing. I just was always very, very self-conscious about my nose before I started boxing. I’m Italian, and you know; you’re born with a Roman nose, and I hate it.
People say I make more out of it than what it is. I say, “Fine, would you like it”? and they say, “ … um, no thanks”. I’ll be honest with you - I lost almost four million dollars in real estate. Since then I’ve been taking antidepressants, so I don’t concentrate too much on… the nose or anything like that.
Name: David Lawrence
Age: 23
Occupation: Newspaper-boy
What do you think about your face?
I think my face looks good. I think it looks mature, young - maybe a little rebellious. It looks like it’s a little eager for something. Like if I saw a picture of myself, and I didn’t know who the person on the picture was, I would think that this guy has really got a goal. And so probably I’d like to look a little bit like myself.
I’m an average person, but I don’t have an average look. Even black people around my age and size… I’ve never really seen anybody who looked anything like me. I’ve got that 21st century look to me. I’m only 23. At the same time I’ve got a loooong beard like an old man, but I keep it shaved – there isn’t any grey in my beard, and I’m not loosing any hair anywhere.
Normally when I have my hair out females go crazy for me. I can’t help it. God made me like that, I guess, and that’s another reason why I figure my attitude is not average. When a lot of the people that I feel are average get attention like that they turn a little arrogant. See me, I don’t get ahead of myself. Because I always know that it isn’t me who made me look like this. God made me look like this.
Name: Harry Shaw
Age: 59
Occupation: Model
What do you think about your face?
My face has made me a lot of money because I’m a professional model. I pose for artists and photographers, and people love to do sculptures and portraits of my face.
I’m a mixture of Irish, Dutch, German and Indian. I have high cheekbones. I’ve light hair. And I’ve dark eyes. It’s not the usual.
People say I look like Richard Gere, and I think that’s fine, I think that’s enjoyable. I like Richard Gere – and I’ve seen him, and he still looks a little bit like me.
Very often I’m under self-hypnosis when I’m modeling. I use the dot-method – I look at a dot, and I get very relaxed, and I’m aware of anything in the room. Being a model is the only way I make money now. I also play Mega Millions – we have a lottery called Mega Millions – but if I win millions I’ll still model.
Name: Allen Makere
Age: 27
Occupation: Singer/Songwriter
What do you think about your face?
I remember that as a child - growing up where I grew up in Africa – I looked at myself and realized that my face was different from that of a lot of the population. When I came to the US it alarmed me to discover that even though I’m black I still did not have a face of the black people in this country either. And then I had to go and search where the origins of my face were, finding that my face was a Rwandan face. America is a place where you see a lot of images of the face in the context of moviemaking and advertising and so on. And so there is a distinct sense of having a wrong face or an unpopular face in this country. And it was only when I realized this that I found out what might be magical about parts of my face – my nose, my lips, my eyes. Since this discovery I’ve hardly left the house without putting on eyeliner and coal around the eyes.I am told that I’m beautiful. I accept that. But beauty isn’t beholden to anything that is moralistic in human life, so when I hear someone say something is beautiful or your face is beautiful, most times I don’t say anything because… there is nothing to say.
Name: Rhoda Lukin
Age: 75
Occupation: Political writer
What do you think about your face?Essentially I would say I have made a drastic change the last three years. Age caught up with me. Good times caught up with me. Wild parties caught up with me. And what I see now is a truly aging woman. I no longer see the spontaneous, witty, charming… I see an elderly woman. And I find that difficult, but in a way very freeing. I don’t have to be the life of the party anymore, and I can talk to charming people like you and not have to feel that I have to flirt with you. I’m much, much freer although considerably sadder getting old.I’m a writer, and I’ve been a writer through all sorts of times. Journalism and creative magazines, news etc. It’s very difficult for me to sit back and watch as opposed to be the active force. And yet I think that if I stick it out I will discover a way of aging that involves anything that is different from doing crossword puzzles. Keep your mind active, you know? I got fit with gym, but I can’t do that anymore, and I don’t want to pretend.
Facity is a fascinating project by Hannes Caspar and Alexis Vabre, capturing the faces of Berlin, with a strict aesthetic dogma;
FACITY manifest for the photo shoot:
1. Frontal position to the camera
2. No Mona-Lisa smile
3. Pure faces. No clothing visible
4. Partial head shot
5. Only daylight. No artificial light sources
5. Digital objective 2,8, 50 mm
6. Touch-up with facity action (Photoshop)
7. Square format
The portraits are really rather captivating and powerful.
Had a shoot today - with Cassy - with an Autumn theme, hopefully for my Colour brief in Folio. Just as we had got ready to shoot (model dressed, camera on, leaves-a-handy etc.) it started raining! We quickly shot a few rounds of the leaf-throwing, until we had to give up! On the plus side, I also got to try out an umbrella idea I’ve had in my head :) (after we ran home to dry off/pick up umbrellas)
Images © Caitlin J. McColl
I shot my first Contextual Portrait today, for our fourth Location Folio brief. The aim of this brief is to photograph six different people at locations you feel are relevant to them and their life. I’ve decided to do a series of diptychs showing photography students with their desks. Each portrait is going to be accompanied by a detail shot, featuring some sort of significant item that reveals something about the subject’s personality.
I’ve failed straight away on this shot with Haga, since he doesn’t actually smoke (cigarettes) but his sister’s ashtray looked so great, with all that texture, I just couldn’t resist!
I’m also going to include their camera somewhere in the frame in each portrait to a) provide a unifying link between all the photos and b) demonstrate that photography is an important aspect of each individual’s life.
Images © Caitlin J. McColl
