archaeography

Cole is an example of imposed relaxation. Throughout these early pictures I shot with an ideology that in relaxation, subtleties of personalities would come to the surface. In this image, however, it is clear that Cole was trying too hard to relax. And that, in fact, relaxation might not be the key. We were in the Art library, the shutter of the camera causes a loud noise that we were both anticipating and other circumstantial features of our interaction could have prevented him from relaxing. One commentary preferred this picture because his facial expression was not just tranquil it had some umph that drew him out from the background. But one thing to consider is the fact that Cole is nothing like how you feel about him while looking at it. And none of our interactions give any truth to this expression.

Peter I think was a lucky break. I know Peter probably the best out of any of the people I have so far photographed. And in every picture he has the same furrowed brow. Indicative of a skepticism about who is where and what's going on. The dark room with it's strange shadows, lamp coil, and out of place art piece on the wall plays into a reality that would make one question what exactly is going on. He seems to be a permanent fixture himself in the chair with his legs crossed and book resting on his lap. Overall, the image seems very evocative of both the feelings he is expressing and a feeling that is indicative of one aspect of his personality. One thing that I think this picture also implicates is the idea that it is only one aspect. Instead of believing that the entirety of his being can be summized in one frame both oversimplifies Peter and the image itself. Trying to impose upon it a singular understanding, my understanding presumably, of what best "represents" him. This seems to get into what Avedon is so often criticized for doing: yelling in his pictures instead of listening to his subjects.

Margo's picture I think is also very evocative of a particular mood. As with Peter, there seems to be a more performative element to the photograph. I actually had two images of Margo, one in which her feet were cut off and this one in which her head has been trimmed. The slight twist in her left ankle gives so much more character to the image that both allows for and in some ways it seems compliments the cropped head.