Unit 5 - Narrative

We spent part of the afternoon creating a narrative - a sequence of photographs that tell a story. This fits in with our theme of film noir that the brief is based upon.

In particular we looked at the work of photographer Duane Michaels:

Looking at Duane Michals photographs reminded me of the work of Sophie Calle which we saw on a visit to The Corner House  Gallery Manchester exhibition 'Double Indemnity', inspired by the film with the same title. 

In her work, Sophie Calle had hired a private investigator to follow her and photograph and document her movements, unbeknownst to the investigator who never met Calle in person before following her. 

The above photo of the work is taken from the Gallery website. 

The added notes by the investigator in between images added to the work and really made you feel involved in the process. I would describe the experience as similar to watching a subtitled film, the images and text flowed well;  a few photos on their own and some two or three together; you lingered on certain images and skipped through others depending on their content - but this changing pace made it feel even more film-like. 

Later in class we took half an hour to create and shoot our own narrative, here's mine:

I've gone for a first person perspective where I am part of the narrative, in Duane Michals work you are always the observer. I shot in black and white and used a high ISO to keep with the film noir style and get a grainy film-like effect (although it's not as visible in the thumbnail composition).

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