Thursday, March 4, 2010

combat witness

the most recent diptychs . next time Ill have an example of text with an image...Im not sure how I want to do that yet though...Ive been having thoughts about separating the images and having the text between them or something...or should I not stray from the diptych theme at all?

6 comments:

Cam said...

I love this project!!

the first 2 images are great. however the last one is a bit troublesome for me. the arm runs out of the frame and the way you have the diptych set up his arms meet, and that is a big awkward. its nice to have the separation and black between the 2 images.

Keep goin!!

hunter said...

i see what you mean...and about the arms running out of the frame; im pondering on how or if i should compensate for that...for example, that last guy is way bigger than the other two guys and they are shot at about the same distance so should i keep it consistant in that respect or change my length to fit each man similarly?

AMANDA GUY said...

These are fantastic Hunter. I love love love the bottom one. The look on his face is piercing. I do agree about the separation of the black background and the arms. I think keeping it consistant will work well for this. I mean you're already doing that by keeping them in white with the black background by why not take it further with shooting from the same distance?

August Cary said...

I would still consider it a diptych if you put text between the images . Maybe a triptych even. Maybe text between two real big prints...

Camden Hardy said...

Be careful with the dyptich formula - it can get repetitive really quickly. I'm also not sure about text. The images are so strong I don't really feel like I need text.

Kelly Gorham said...

Don't forget about the whole point of visual storytelling. While I really like the portraits, they don't say anything to me about "combat veteran".

If you stay with this style of portrait then I think some form of caption is necessary to tell their story and there are no rules against that. Otherwise you will have to find a way to photograph them that says "combat veteran." Don't leave this open to the viewer's interpretation, shove it down their throats. That's how you make a project with impact.

Combat is a sensitive topic and there's a risk that if you don't clearly communicate their story you could somehow cheapen their experience. It might come off as really disrespectful.