Gregory Crewdson

Gregory Crewdson, a SUNY Purchase alumni, is a photographer who excites me for shooting digitally in classes next semester so I can experiment more with color. His use of color is admirable and really help set the mood of the cinematic images that he produces. Gregory Crewdson, Malery Marder, Diane Arbus and Philip Lorcia diCorcia all have dramatic photographs that speak for themselves and stand strong on their own. But I admire the suspense that Gregory Crewdson leaves us with with our photographs. Gregory Crewdson stages his photographs and display a cinematic story of suburban homes and lifestyle and the families that live in them. His photographs are cinematic and dramatic and his use of colors definitely help emphasize that. I guess what most attracts me about Crewdson and Philip Lorcia diCorcia is not that they stage their work, but the fact that they're so powerful and convincing. Crewdson's photographs have this deep blue color throughout all of them that sets the mood of the photograph but keeps you hanging, wishing that you could see a photograph of what happens next. He gives you so little but just enough to keep you engaged. He really has a perfect balance of not giving you too much information and manages to keep the viewer craving more. He captures the moment right before or even right after all hell breaks loose, but it's totally at the right moment.

He captures a scene that seems as if you are driving through a neighborhood and it gives you a feeling that you are spying on this intimate moment.

He stirs up the questions, " what happened?" and "what's going to happen?" just through one image, and that's impressive. He gives an erie vibe and sets up a scenario almost that you're walking into it. 

With my last roll of film, I tried setting up a scene that seems as if you are walking into someone else's problem.  I was going on a hike with my boyfriend and best friend and we had to park on this busy highway. I thought about how many people were passing by us, and what they must think of us just parking on the side of the highway. I then walked across the highway and didn't tell them what I was doing. I wanted to set up a scene, but they're both camera shy so I just had to do it in a way where they know I'm up to something that may come off as dangerous, to get a discomfort emotion stirring, and I screamed over from the other side, " can you pop the lid of my car? Jeff did and I told Alana to get in the drivers seat and then to get up, and I captured that moment directly as a car was passing by to try and capture that everyone is going through something, even strangers. 

It's a start. I'm exploring different ways of directing to capture a similar feeling that Gregory Crewdson is trying to express. I'm getting to know my subjects and evaluating what they're capable of giving me and how to get them to give me what I want in a photograph. 

This was the first moment where I wanted to step back from my subject, including more of the setting in my photographs and I can see myself learning from these photographers. I am thinking more about the relationship between my subjects and my setting rather than just the people I'm photographing. I need to keep stepping back to better understand my subjects and their relationship on the grounds they're standing on.