Gregory Crewdson photographs tableaux photographs (Gregory Crewdson, 2020), meaning constructed scenes in which he aims to tell a complete story in a single shot. His images are influenced by films such as those from Hitchcock (ibid.) and this is very clear looking at most of his images which are filmic in their appearance, Fig. 1 is an example.
Within his images, he aims to tell a complete story all within a single frame and he states “I consider myself first and foremost a photographer. I like the idea that I am able to instil, in a single moment, every imaginable kind of production technique to make a perfect image” (Crewdson, cited by Bright, 2014:82).
Fig. 2. below is an example of an image that could easily be a frame taken from a film, however it is not, it has only ever been shot as a single image.
The lighting in particular is, for me, what creates the filmic quality. The girl sitting on the bed is the brightest part of the image and so our attention is drawn directly to her more than anything else. However, the shadows on the wall behind appear to suggest that the lighting is coming from an outside window, with the frame creating the shadows. This draws our attention away from the fact that the girl is artificially lit in some way. The colour of the light suggests moonlight. The set is perfectly arranged, it could be a real house, yet it is slightly surreal as there are no objects in the scene that would normally be lying around in a bedroom. The framing of the shot is just wide enough on the right to show the stairway down to the rest of the house. This makes the set seem a lot more real, if I cover up that side of the image, it feels much more compressed, considerably less like an actual room. Bolstering this further is the view out of the windows at the back which look to be windows from the house next door.
I could write much more about the details in this image and that illustrates the point about Crewdson’s attention to detail. Credson says “My wish is for the narrative in the pictures to work within that circumstance. It is that sense of in-between-ness that interests me.’ (Crewdson, as cited by Photographs by Gregory Crewdson – Victoria and Albert Museum, n.d.). I think that it is the completeness of his image that achieves the in-between-ness he seeks; because the image is so complete, one notices what is missing. Still looking at Fig. 2, I wonder what the girl is looking at or thinking whilst her mother sleeps. But then I notice the mother has her eyes open too. Are they talking to each other? Are they both waiting for something? Have they both been disturbed by something outside? We cannot see what is outside as it is behind us out of frame, but we do know there is a window there from the shadows of the window frame.
I decided to research this photographer after a discussion with my tutor about putting a greater level of consideration into the framing of my images. Fig 3 shows the effort the Crewdson puts into creating his images. It is clearly to be seen that a huge amount of effort goes into his images but the effort has paid off in my opinion.
Learning
The images that I usually take are not tableaux in nature, ie they are not constructed, they are candid and taken from what I observe in front of me. What I have learnt from this research apart from the effort that goes into creating the sort of images I have included above, is the impact of the smallest detail and even though I am not creating tableaux, the thought that Crewdson puts into his creations is something that I could do, and that thought followed by acting on those thoughts will make a big difference to my images.
Bibliography
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Gregory Crewdson. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregory_Crewdson> [Accessed 14 May 2020].
Bright, S., 2014. Art Photography Now. London: Thames & Hudson, p.82.
Vam.ac.uk. n.d. Photographs By Gregory Crewdson – Victoria And Albert Museum. [online] Available at: <http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/p/gregory-crewson/> [Accessed 14 May 2020].
Figures
Figure 1 Crewdson, G., n.d. untitled (The Maddison). [image] Available at: <http://www.gregorycrewdsonmovie.com/image-gallery.html> [Accessed 14 May 2020].
Figure 2 Crewdson, G., n.d. untitled (Twin Beds) [image] Available at: <http://www.gregorycrewdsonmovie.com/image-gallery.html> [Accessed 14 May 2020].
Figure 3. Crewdson, G., n.d. On Set Ophelia. [image] Available at: <http://www.gregorycrewdsonmovie.com/image-gallery.html> [Accessed 14 May 2020].