Artist Research - Philip-Lorca diCorcia

Philip-Lorca diCorcia

Philip-Lorca diCorcia is an American photographer. He studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Afterwards diCorcia attended Yale University where he received a Master of Fine Arts in Photography in 1979. He now lives and works in New York City, and teaches at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. 

Philip-Lorca diCorcia's photographs straddle truth and fiction by combining real people and places, but not necessarily people and places that naturally go together. The theatricality of his images is carefully constructed; he arranges the objects of each scene and devises precise lighting and framing for every project. HIs work is often described as cinematic, a description that diCorcia deplores. He insists that his pictures suggest rather than elucidate a full narrative. His brand of story telling results in unstable, unfixed images that point in certain directions but never provide a definitive map. 

- https://www.moma.org/artists/7027

I have been largely Inspired by Philip-Lorca diCorcia in my photography since I first discovered his work about a year ago. I liked the cinematic style of his images, but never thought i'd use his images as guidance for some of my documentary project as it is such a different style. diCorcia spends lot's of time planning and preparing what can seem to be candid shots. However my approach has been very different and I rely a lot on the decisive moment without much planning. 

Mario - 1978

This is perhaps one of Philip-Lorca diCoricias most famous images in which he told his brother to stare into the open fridge, where he had placed a an electronic flash triggered at the moment of exposure whilst his camera was on a tripod. This shot was a case of trial and error until he had the result he wanted, with lots of readjusting of lighting and made several Polaroid test shots.   

I really like this image, particularly the lighting and how it bleeds against the back wall as well as onto the subjects face from the fridge. The composition is nice and the doors on the left and right of the image frame the rest of the picture very nicely. This image has quite an eerie tone to it, the man here appears very lonely and perhaps unhappy. I also really like how clear and sharp the subject is as the background is softer. 

Igor - 1987

This image was clearly shot on the subway and depicts a middle aged man sitting down holding a goldfish in a bag. I assume just won or bought the fish and is taking it home with him. He looks unbothered by his surroundings and as if he is deep in thought, he also seems quite relaxed. I like how the seats on the subway match colours with the goldfish, whilst everything else remains very dark and grey, leaving these to be the only things that stand out. 

Shoot 6

• Depth of field
• Framing
• 
  

Shoot 5

Photographer Research: Larry Sultan

Practicing golf swing (1986)

Reading at the kitchen table (1988)

Larry Sultan photographed his father and family over a ten year period spanning the 70s and 80s as part of an elaborate project that included his parents own photos, home movies and statements. This was the Reagan era which preached the values of family life, a version Sultan didn't recognise. "Photography is there to construct the idea of us as a great family and we go on vacations and take these pictures and then we look at them later and we say, 'Isn't this a great family?' So photography is instrumental in creating family not only as a memento, a souvenir, but also a kind of mythology." (Larry Sultan). Produced in the 80's, these images can look almost fictional, and seem surreal based on the decor in the home and clothing on the people. Sultan appears to use lots of light in his photography whether it is natural sunlight outside or gleaming through windows, or artificial lighting inside to keep the images bright. The way that he captures his parents through the documentary truly offers an insight into their middle-class American lifestyle. I assume that they take pride in their home and appearance and notice this by things like his fathers watch and their bright clothing. I can also assume this due to the details in their home with the way that the yellow chairs match the yellow wallpaper. I really like the composition in both of these images, particularly the top image which shows Sultans father practicing his golf swing in his living room, the light behind him isn't too much to over expose the image and make his father a silhouette and offers a very peaceful, summer like feel. I have chosen to shoot my mums parents for this particular shoot as they are similar to Sultan's parents in certain aspects. They take pride in their home and appearance, they are also a retired couple who live alone in a big-ish house. 

Image Bank:


Contact Sheet:

Best Images:

ISO 200 F.stop 4.5 Shutter Speed 1/125

ISO 200 F.stop 4.5 Shutter Speed 1/125

ISO 800 F.stop 4.5 Shutter Speed 1/25

ISO 200 F.stop 4.5 Shutter Speed 1/50

ISO 400 F.stop 4.0 Shutter Speed 1/25

Images that require improvement:

The reason that I chose this as an image to improve is because I don't completely hate it and I know it has potential to be a good image if I shoot it again properly, adjusting a few things. I think that the composition is quite nice how it frames my Nan and Grandad in separate parts of the wall. My nan is blurred though and I could have used a quicker shutter speed to avoid this, like 1/50. The image gets slightly darker on the left side as it is lacking in natural light, although whilst shooting I knew I would be able to edit things like this in detail as I shot in RAW.

ISO 800 F.stop 4.5 Shutter Speed 1/125

I also like certain aspects of this image like the composition and the way that my Grandad is facing away from the camera and looking at my Nan. This image is very dark and would have been lighter if I used a slower shutter speed like 1/25. Their kitchen was very dark so when shooting here I would use an ISO of 800 just to be safe, luckily there doesn't seem to be any noise in result of this. This image is also very blurry as a whole, and I should have taken this image on Auto focus as it is in such a dark setting. 

AO1 - Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding. 

When researching documentary photography I came across the  photographer Larry Sultan who's work pleasantly surprised me. The surrealism in his images inspired me but I was not sure how to create this in my own images. The main aspect I'd like to think I adopted from his work was the subjects and the relationship between my Nan and Grandad similar to his parents relationship. His images are neat and tidy, though as his shots are based on a middle-class family this isn't a surprise. I'd say that my images have the same calm and relaxing tone based on the atmosphere of the house. I made sure to include images whereby my family are looking at the camera as this is a common theme in Sultans images and something I haven't yet explored in my documentary project. I also took some photos of smaller things like the painting my grandad has been working on, I noticed in some of Sultans images he will just shoot some things around the house and as soon as I saw my grandads art work on the floor I wanted to take a photo of it. This is why there are also photos of the cat, I wanted to build a sense of who they were based on everything around them and inside their home.

AO2 - Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops. 

When taking the photographs for this shoot I used a handheld approach as usual for the style of documentary, I was shooting in manual mode. I made sure to start the shoot around midday so that I had daylight to ensure my pictures weren't under exposed. I used an ISO of 400 - 800, dependant on what I felt was necessary for the particular shot as some areas of my nans house are a lot darker than others. For example the conservatory was very bright as it is windows instead of walls, so for these images an ISO of 200 was just right. However in my nan's kitchen there is not a lot of daylight, so I used an iso of 800, but some of the images seemed to be under exposed anyway. This is why none of my best images were shot in the kitchen. 

As I shot in raw, when I opened my images to edit them they opened in Camera raw editing software to make detailed adjustments before additional editing on photoshop. Here, I adjusted the tint and used the slider to make it slightly pink, and adjusted the temperature and used the slider to make it a tiny bit blue, so that over all my images had a purplish pink tint to them like which gave the images a warmer tone like Sultans work. I adjusted the highlights and whites here to make it as aesthetically pleasing as possible. 

This was all I felt I really needed to do in the editing process for this shoot. I thought that more is less in this case and keeping it simple is the best way to present these images. In photoshop I just saved them as jpegs.

AO3 - Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress.  

  

I believe my work reflects a sense of Larry Sultans photography, aesthetically, visually and with the key ideas of family values / marriage and keeping the photographers morals in mind. So far this project has mainly been based on my dad's mum but felt like my mum's mum was best for this shoot as their house is more modern like sultan's house. Additionally, the relationship between my nan and grandad is similar in some ways to Sultan's parents relationships shown in his images. There is a strong sense in both my own and Sultans work that the people in the images are a product of their time. I try to make my images as visually pleasing as possible, in regards to composition and angles. I feel like I managed to create a small but visually pleasing series here when looking at all of my best images together. The setting offers a strong essence of my nan and grandad, who they are as people and a couple. It says something about generations and family. My mum is clearly very similar to her mum and this is easy to see only from a few images. 

The top image is the works of Larry Sultan, placing these images next to each other shows similarities in relationships and attitudes about being photographed. Instead of taking inspiration from Sultans image I felt like re making it instead. Although I could've portrayed the same thing if my grandad sat on a Sofa. I think my grandad appears to be more reflective than Sultans father. Especially by the way that he is looking to the side with the light reflecting on his face. Also, he is sort of smiling where as Sultan's father appears as the grumpy character that he tends to be. In all honestly I think that my image is just a modern version of Sultan's. I prefer the lighting in my image as I feel it has a softer over all appearance.

There is quite a big difference with lighting in these images but other than this they are quite similar in regards to the relationship between my Nan and Grandad. Additionally there is a similarity within the roles and gender stereotypes that they fall into. In both images, the man is seen to be doing work in the garden and keeping it tidy whilst the woman overlooks from the door. My lighting is different because it was shot in a conservatory that has glass walls and roof, where as Sultans mother is in a normal, dark room whilst overlooking a sunny garden creating a contrast. There are also shadows in Sultans image because of where the sun is positioned. However my image was shot on a cloudy day and the sun was already setting. The depth of field is also slightly different in these images as well. In Sultans image his mother is more out of focus especially being in darkness, whilst his father is easy to be seen. Whilst in my shot, my nan is in focus in forefront whilst the background slightly fades and my Grandads facial expression can't be read. 

AO4 - Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements. 

I am fairly happy with how this shoot turned out although it was slightly harder to adjust to a new setting and people to shoot around. I will probably shoot my dad's mum some more in the next few shoots as it is her relationship with her sons that I am really interested. As a widow living with her son, the theme of matriarchy seems to be much more relevant in her life than my mum's mum who lives with her husband. My next shoot will be inspired by Philip Lorca DiCorcia and his cinematic style of photography. I don't know how well this will work out in my nans small house though. 

Best Images:

Portfolio