Image/Work Update

I have been working all this week to create props for my big shoot over Thanksgiving break. I am staging the photographs inside my grandparent's house that I haven't been to in over 5 years. It's a dated house and I'm still unsure of the final shots, but I plan on spending an entire day there alone. Paul said I should think about composing my shots not as photographs, but as if they were paintings- reacting instinctively instead of planning out scenes. I can focus on themes that have been running throughout my work for the past few years: death, life, coexistence, etc.

On the planned side, I have been working on several props to be combined with their home environment. I have been making more plaques (some degraded), more bird heads (some with antlers composed of mouse jaw bones), a wider variety of animals, natural props, dust, furs, etc... I'm also taking several degraded frames. I am taking all materials with me (hammer, paint, glues, tapes, string, cloth, wallpaper, pens, stains, paint scraper, dead plants, furs, pins, bones, feathers, etc).

Production shots:




After visiting Tom's open studio last Friday, I have been inspired to create more work outside photography. I haven't drawn in forever and I took my pens out several times this week. As a result, I have added more hand manipulation to my production pieces. I have added more stains to the plaques as well as pen detail work. It may be hard to see in the final images, but it is there. I am more appreciative of my creations when I know all the details are considered, visible or not.

Here is a test shoot I set up in my own basement: