Jackson Heseltine
19- The Contemplation of a Young Man
4x5, Kodak Portra 400, Linhof Rail Camera.
In the second semester of my second year I did a project similar to the Mimesis I did with Mapplethorpe's work, however since the second semester was revolving around colour photography. The photo that I chose to recreate/reimagine/retake is Philip-Lorca DiCorica’s “Hartford” (1979) . I chose to focus on this image in particular because I personally gravitate to his earlier work when he wasn’t so focused on the series as he was on an individual image. I also am fond of the “wondering subject” that is found in many images from his early days. What I mean by that is that there is a subject who is neither here nor there, they lack emotion, yet hold so much of it. Perhaps it’s the subtleties in their expression, maybe it’s the way they hold a cigarette, but for me these portraits are more impactful because the emotion seems so natural and unforced, even though for many of DiCorcia’s images the subject is posed and staged. I chose to shoot this assignment on a large format 4x5 camera because it seemed that it fit the aesthetic of the artist’s early work, as well as his later series’, such as ‘Heads’. I also knew that since I was shooting large format that I was only going to print one image [which also felt natural because of the individualism (in terms of image making) of DiCorcia’s early work], and that the image had to be printed as large as the printers at Emily Carr could manage. I did so because for most of his exhibitions, the photos are life size or larger than life, if only I could make a print that large at the school, maybe one day. Personally, I found this project to be a success. This has been my fifth or sixth time using a large format camera and this was the first time that all my negatives turned out as planned, which I’m happy about in terms of selecting an image for the assignment, and my overall progress in using a more difficult analogue technology. After doing this assignment, it has allowed me to think about my image making much more cinematically and playfully with my subject.
19- The Contemplation of a Young Man
4x5, Kodak Portra 400, Linhof Rail Camera.
In the second semester of my second year I did a project similar to the Mimesis I did with Mapplethorpe's work, however since the second semester was revolving around colour photography. The photo that I chose to recreate/reimagine/retake is Philip-Lorca DiCorica’s “Hartford” (1979) . I chose to focus on this image in particular because I personally gravitate to his earlier work when he wasn’t so focused on the series as he was on an individual image. I also am fond of the “wondering subject” that is found in many images from his early days. What I mean by that is that there is a subject who is neither here nor there, they lack emotion, yet hold so much of it. Perhaps it’s the subtleties in their expression, maybe it’s the way they hold a cigarette, but for me these portraits are more impactful because the emotion seems so natural and unforced, even though for many of DiCorcia’s images the subject is posed and staged. I chose to shoot this assignment on a large format 4x5 camera because it seemed that it fit the aesthetic of the artist’s early work, as well as his later series’, such as ‘Heads’. I also knew that since I was shooting large format that I was only going to print one image [which also felt natural because of the individualism (in terms of image making) of DiCorcia’s early work], and that the image had to be printed as large as the printers at Emily Carr could manage. I did so because for most of his exhibitions, the photos are life size or larger than life, if only I could make a print that large at the school, maybe one day. Personally, I found this project to be a success. This has been my fifth or sixth time using a large format camera and this was the first time that all my negatives turned out as planned, which I’m happy about in terms of selecting an image for the assignment, and my overall progress in using a more difficult analogue technology. After doing this assignment, it has allowed me to think about my image making much more cinematically and playfully with my subject.