The Decisive Moment

In Gerry Badgers book, The Genius Of Photography he talks in relation to Henri Cartier-Bresson’s book The Decisive Moment; 

• "The instant when a prescient photographer anticipates a significant moment in the continuous flux of life and captures it in a fraction of a second." (Badger, 2007)
  

• "It is a notion often misunderstood. The decisive moment is not necessarily the instant of peak action - the soldier dropping as the bullet hits him in Capa's picture, the woman denouncing a suspected Gestapo stool pigeon in an image Catier-Bresson took at the end of the war. It refers, rather, to the moment when every element in the view finder coalesces to make a picture, an image."  (Badger, 2007)
  

I feel the latter of these two quotes is very pertinent to DiCorcia's Heads, series. It is obvious from looking at the subjects of the Heads series (their thoughtful gazes, wistful look and on the whole simply how interesting his images are), that DiCorcia has not just "snapped" away to obtain these images, DiCorcia has obviously waited for that "decisive" moment.

Affect Theory

Affect theory has been an interesting yet very difficult and complicated topic to research and I am only going to cover it very briefly, lest I get sidetracked!

There are many different writers on affect theory and many differing view points. The most notable of the writers on affect theory is Silvan Tomkins (it his him the theory is attributed to). My research for this topic has mostly come from a paper called A Primer of Affect Psychology by Vernon C Kelly, the paper is written with the purpose of introducing Tomkins work to the reader. The excerpt below is from Kelly's paper;

"There is no best place to begin any description of affect psychology. It would not be useful to start with a simple definition of “affect” because affect is best understood when seen in the overall context of its general purpose. However, before going there, it is good for you to know that an affect is a biological event, a normal part of the everyday functioning of our central nervous system (CNS). An affect is, in some respects, like a normal knee jerk reflex. If one applies the proper stimulus to the patella tendon—a tap with a small hammer—in just the right place with just the right amount of force, then the lower leg will jerk upwards. Similarly, if the proper stimulus is received in the CNS, an affect is triggered. How this takes place will become clear later on, but for now, please do not think of an affect as some kind of mysterious psychological event. It is not. It is simply a normal part of brain functioning that has evolved in our species for a specific purpose. Affects are so much a part of everyday life that you seldom think about them and often do not even recognise their presence."

 

Re-Shoot Feedback

From our group session and the feedback I received regarding my images, I have been advised to look at the following areas;

• Affect Theory - Silvan Tomkin/Eve Sedgewick
• What makes my approach different
• ?Focus on men or women and justify my choice
• Analyse DiCorcias Choice
• The Decisive Moment - Cartier Bresson

The posts that follow will discuss the above points.

Heads emulation re-shoot

So, from discussing my original shoots with my group, some advice given was to try and capture the people with less distracting features in the background, ie; people! For my re-shoot, I still used Chester as the location, the fact that you can get up reasonably high innocuously helps for this emulation project, the only difference being this time I opted to change my position. I spent appoximately 3 hours perched in the same position and took about 70 pictures, I tried to be as calculated in my choices of subjects, looking for people that again looked interesting, (whatever I percieved as interesting anyway). I faced similar issues to the previous shoot; I went handheld as the space was too large to focus the camera in one position and hope for people to walk through a pre-determined spot. I again used a 70-300mm telephoto lens, light was a slight issue so I had to up the ISO to 1250 to allow me to use a faster shutter speed (people walk pretty quick!). Anyway, below are the 14 images I have decided to use as part of this second batch.

The Street

The exact location

Assignment 3 - My "Heads" emulation

For my emulation of Philip-Lorca DiCorcia's Heads series I decided to shoot in Chester. It was my intention to shoot from the walls, in particular the wall that passes over theEastgate street and holds the Chester clock 

In reality, when I actually setup to take the images from this point, I felt I was too high and that the angle I was shooting at (I was using a 70-300mm telephoto lens) was too harsh and if I shot further into the distance I felt that the surroundings where too distracting. So... I moved up onto the rows next to the Chester cross.

From this position I could reduce the angle with which I took my photographs but I was still faced with a problem... I couldn't focus on the one area, because the space was so big for people to pass through, the chances of a suitable subject passing over a preset spot where slim (I tried and got nothing). It was then that I realised why DiCorcia had chosen the spot he did, beneath the scaffolding he used the path was narrow, so his subjects had to pass through his spot, mine didn't! So I decided in order to get my images, I would remain in the same spot, and the camera would be rigged to the tripod still, but I would pan it to capture my subjects. 

Below are my resulting images which I will present to my group for feedback. Overall I am happy with the images I have achieved for a first attempt. I have cropped the images to the same ratio that DiCorcia uses so I have lost some image quality, but I felt the ratio of medium format changes the feeling of the images and seems to give them something more with regards to focus. Something else I realised with this shoot is; the amount of information we lose when we decided to only shoot a persons head and shoulders and how much this creates more "mystery" around the image. 

There is no information included with each of the images, staying true to DiCorcia's style with this series, I want the viewer to create their own backstory for each image. I tried to be very selective with my choice of subjects, I looked for people I thought looked interesting. 

Assignment 2 - Philip-Lorca DiCorcia "Heads"

For the second assignment I have decided to use the "Heads" series of images to focus on. This series of images was created between 1999 - 2001 in Times Square, New York. This piece is is in the style of street photography but with a twist! DiCorcia rigged strobe lighting to scaffolding on the sidewalk, from a distance of approximately twenty feet, DiCorcia stood, focused on a predetermined point. When a subject he considered suitable passed through this "X" marked area, DiCorcia would take his image, triggering the lights which created a mostly blacked out area, focusing attention on the heads and shoulders of his unknowing subjects.  The resulting photographs show people that are absorbed in their own worlds and thoughts, creating an image that causes the viewer to create their own backstory.

DiCorcia based the concept of this series on the Baader-Meinhof Gang was one of post WW2 Germany's most prolific left wing terror groups. Each member had to live amongst their neighbours, pretending to be something they weren't, DiCorcia is quoted as saying "their interior and private life was in no way reflected in their exterior". It is my belief that this is what DiCorcia was trying to reflect with this series, the notion that regardless of how we percieve the person in the images, the fact is we have no real idea about the person just from the way they look and behave.

DiCorcia published the series in a book with the same title in October 2001. The book contained 17 full bleed images and was 38cmx30cm high. Each image addorned the right hand page and the left simply contained the number of the image in apparently random order. The opening chapter of the book is an essay by Luc Sante which explains the method in which DiCorcia captured his images.

Research References

• Warburton,Nigel. (Unknown year of publication). Caught unawares: from Philip-Lorcia diCorcia’s Heads. Available: http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/tag/times-square/. Last accessed 26th Nov 2011.

• Smitch,Leslie. (Unknown year of publication). Philip-Lorca diCorcia. Available: http://www.lslimited.com/cgi-local/view.cgi?level_3=4. Last accessed 26th Nov 2011.

• Wortnan,Rachel . (April 25th 2010). Street level: Intersections of Art and the Law Philip-Lorca diCorcia’s “Heads” Project and Nussenzweig v. diCorcia. Available: http://gnovisjournal.org/2010/04/25/street-level-intersections-art-and-law-philip-lorca-dicorcias-heads-project-and-nussenzweig/. Last accessed 26th Nov 2011.

• Bright,Susan (2011). Art Photography Now. London: Thames and Hudson. 216-217

Research references

Philips,Sarah. (2011). Photographer Philip-Lorca diCorcia's best shot. Available: http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/jun/05/philip-lorca-dicorcia-photography. Last accessed 17th November 2011.

Lacan,Jaques. (Unknown year of publication). diCorcia, Philip-Lorca. Available: http://www.lacan.com/dicorcia.htm. Last accessed 17th

Unknown Author. (Unknown year of publication). Philip-Lorca diCorcia. Available: http://www.cmoa.org/international/the_exhibition/artist.asp?dicorcia. Last accessed 16th November 2011.

Unknown Author. (Unknown year of publication). Philip-Lorca diCorcia. Available: http://www.thecollectiveshift.com/show/portfolio/diCorcia. Last accessed 17th November 2011.

Devens,Dorian (2003). INTERVIEW: “Photographer Philip-Lorca diCorcia Talks’” (2003). Available: http://www.americansuburbx.com/2011/09/interview-photographer-philip-lorca-dicorcia-talks-2003.html. Last accessed 17th November 2011.

Schuman,Aaron. (2007). Not Any More: Philip-Lorca diCorcia’s 'Thousand'. Available: http://aaronschuman.com/plcthousand.html. Last accessed Nov 15th 2011.

Nussenzweig V DiCorcia

Below is an excerpt from the New York Court of Appeal regarding court proceedings that where brought against DiCorcia for an image he took and subsequently sold as part of his "Heads" series.

Nussenzweig V DiCorcia 

 http://www.law.cornell.edu/nyctap/I07_0144.htm

Philip-Lorca DiCorcia... continued

Individual Exhibitions

The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, Massachusetts
Foam Fotographiemuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

PaceWildenstein, New York, New York
Galerie Almine Rech, Paris, France
Gagosian Gallery, London, England
Monika Sprüth Philomene Magers, Cologne, Germany
Fondazoine Bevilacqua La Masa, Venezia, Italy

Helga deAlvear, Madrid, Spain
Monica deCardenas, Milan, Italy
Galerie Almine Rech, Paris, France

PaceWildenstein, New York, New York
Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, England; traveling to Centre National de la Photographie, Paris,France; Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany; Magasin 3, Stockholm Konsthall; Fondazione Bevilacqua La Mesa, Venice, Italy; Centro de Arte Visuais, Coimbra, Portugal
Fundacion Telefonica, PhotoEspaña, Madrid, Spain

Galerie Almine Rech, Paris, France
Monica De Cardenas, Milan, Italy
Barbara Krakow, Boston, Massachusetts

PaceWildenstein, New York, New York
Galerie Monika Sprüth Philomene Magers, Munich, Germany
Gagosian Gallery, London, England

Sprengel Museum, Hannover, Germany
Lawing Gallery, Houston, Texas
Galeria OMR, Mexico City, Mexico
PaceWildenstein, New York, New York
Galerie Almine Rech, Paris, France
Art Space Ginza, Tokyo, Japan

Galerie Rodolphe Janssen, Brussels, Belgium
Hustler/Streetwork, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte
Reina Sofia, Madrid, Spain
Streetwork, Galerie Almine Rech, Paris, France

Publications 

Thousand, 2007
So the Story Goes, 2006
A Storybook Life, 2004
Fashioning Fiction in Photography Since 1990, 2004

Philip-Lorca DiCorcia, 2003
The Citigroup Private Bank Photography Prize 2002, 2002
Heads, 2001

Streetwork, 1998

Magazine Publications

Esquire

Fortune

Conde Nast

W Magazine

Life Magazine

Assignment 1 - Philip-Lorca DiCorcia

• Born 1951, Connecticut, USA. 

• Studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston then went on to achieve his Masters in photography at Yale. 

• Currently lives & Works in New York.

• Senior photography critic at Yale University. 

• Short stint working as a postman!

Influences

Guy Bourdin

A French fashion photographer, best known for his work for French Vogue from the fifties to the mid eighties.

Walker Evans

 Best known for his his documentary of the great depression. 

William Eggelston

 Known for photographing common place objects and everday subjects.

Garry Winogrand

Street photographer known for his portrayl of America in the mid twentieth century.

A quote from DiCorcia

‘More so than a lot of people, I think that I’m concerned with how an image looks - the production values, or whatever you want to call it. It’s always seemed rather shameful to me how easy photography is.  So I’m not someone who makes a virtue of spontaneity, or wilfully disobeying the “rules”.  But then, how can you disobey the rules of something that had no rules to begin with?  It’s ridiculous.’ Aaron Schuman. (2007). Not Any More: Philip-Lorca diCorcia’s 'Thousand'. Available:http://aaronschuman.com/plcthousand.html. Last accessed Nov 15th 2011.

 Genres

From my research into Philip-Lorca DiCorcia it is obvious he is a remarkably diverse photographer. Below are some examples of images from the various genres he works within.

Art

"Hustlers" was a choreagraphed series of images where DiCorcia would set up the scene with the aid of an assistant, after this initial setup he would approach a hustler (rent boy) and pay them their lowest rate to pose in the image.

"Hustlers"

"Hustlers"

"Hustlers"

A "Storybook Life" is a collection of 70 works, made over 20 years that was never intended to become a series yet the way the images have been edited and sequenced suggests interconnected lives and stories.

"Storybook life"

"Storybook life"

"Storybook life"

The "Heads" series captured people unaware on a New York sidewalk. Dicorcia shot in way that isolated the heads and shoulders of his carefully selected subjects. The resulting images show people engrossed in their own worlds, leaving the viewer to ponder what is going through the subjects mind.

"Heads"

"Heads"

"Streetwork" was a series that came prior to heads and also photographed people unaware, using elaborate but unobtrusive lighting. These images differ from the "Heads" series in their broader view, more information is captured within the frame.

"Streetwork"

"Streetwork"

 Travel

I find DiCorcias travel photography very beautiful and the selected images below have an almost painterly feel to them.

Editorial

 

Advertising

  After all the research I have done to date on DiCorcia, I have grown to further apprerciate a photographer that I had an interest in already. I feel inspired by his work, his diversity within photography is amazing and I am yet to look at an image that I do not like! I could not have been happier with my given photographer for this assignment!