Research: Philip-Lorca DiCorcia. (WK 7)

Philip-Lorca DiCorcia uses documentary-like scenes in his studio based works. The works are designed to look like every day occurences. The aim was to inspire the photographs spectators to an awareness of psychology and emotion contained in real life situations.

He uses very direct lighting, the figure illuminated with quite bright almost harsh light. The surrounding objects and scenery are not nearly as illuminated as the figure in the photograph. There is a sense of heightened drama in the image, as if something is about to happen. The studio is well set up, there is no reflective surfaces (table aside) that will bounce any strong light sources. It is a well planned out setting. I like this image, it's a lot like what I've been practicing on my own, having the figure in light while the rest of the image is out of focus or in darkness/shadow. Whereas my image I would have a much narrower depth of field than in his images where it is still blatantly obvious what is in the background of the photograph.

Brent Booth, 21 years old,
Des Moines, Iowa, $30