Highlights of a Night Shoot & Inspiration

For inspiration on this shoot my photography was very inspired by Klaus Rinke’s ‘Time, Space Body Transformations’. The term “body art” is used in descriptions about him. I am interested by the body representing humanity rather than the individual in these works. The awkward positioning Rinke puts himself in makes the viewer imagine how uncomfortable that would be. I wanted to use these methods in my photographs, with positioning and location.

Link I’ve used for this image and background on the artist: http://socks-studio.com/2014/09/01/klaus-rinke-time-space-body-transformations/

The idea behind the locations were influenced by Mark Wallinger’s Turner Prize winning piece ‘Sleeper’. Although this was filmed in a gallery, I was inspired by the lighting and contrast between the figure and it’s surroundings.

I am interested in the costume as a tropé. The purposefully obvious neckline of the mask, the way it sags unfitted… the image is quite comical. Yet the ominous reality of what would be if faced directly with an anonymous figure is still underlining the piece.

“Like sleepers (‘spies planted in advance for future use, but not currently active’) disruptive elements might be hiding in history’s basement, under desks, behind pillars or partitions.  They might be primed to emerge late at night, after closing time, after the sightseers have gone.  Their range of operation might seem highly circumscribed, but their effects conversely might be hard to calculate.  Sleepers might never be activated; their importance lies in their potential and their staying-power.” – Above image and quote taken from, where a longer piece of writing is: http://www.rachelwithers.com/mark-wallinger-sleeper/ 

2004 is a single channel colour video in which the British artist Mark Wallinger is seen performing alone at night in the Neue Nationalgalerie, Berlin, while wearing a brown bear suit. Displayed as a large projection in a darkened room, the video begins with a brief framing shot of the art gallery – a modernist structure characterised by a large, rectangular open space surrounded by glass walls – before it cuts to a closer perspective of the building’s interior, into which the ‘bear’ emerges from below via a staircase. Over the next two-and-a-half hours, Wallinger occupies the brightly lit space in a variety of ways: walking and running across the granite floor, lying and sitting down in a seemingly forlorn manner, hiding behind marble columns and wooden booths, and occasionally descending staircases into the galleries below ground level, where he remains unseen for short periods of time. The ‘bear’ also interacts, sometimes aggressively and sometimes playfully, with a small number of spectators watching from the other side of the glass walls. The video, which does not have sound, features footage taken both inside and outside of the gallery space, including close-ups of Wallinger’s performance, and is structured around long takes with minimal editing.” – Website I took this piece of writing from:  http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/wallinger-sleeper-t12261/text-summary

I thought if I take this project further, it could on to a performance and film piece. Which would mix into the bit of research I did relating to folk culture, namely Tibetan Cham dancing and in contrast British folk dancing. I will be writing a post about these ideas.

Below are the highlights of my photo shoot:

The photo shoot was in the early hours of the 30th of November 2015, between 12am and 6am. I used passageways, alley ways, entrances, side roads, roads, building sites and harsh lighting. Using the city as a set, the walls and floors as props.

At some points it felt almost post-apocalyptic in the most quiet areas, or as if a mysterious breeze had blown through simultaneously wiping out all inhabitants, cars and animals. Think the hit zombie horror ’28 Days Later’. Perfect for wide shots of streets though.

It has been getting so dark, so fast due to winter. This added to the timeless feeling of the whole expedition, it could have been anytime between 4pm and 7am.

During a one to one session, my tutor picked up on the word I used while describing what my ideas were. ‘Misplaced’ rather than ‘displaced’, I realised I had been using it as I see the body in the photographs as an object, symbol or catalyst. rather than a self portrait. Self portraiture would imply an entirely different subject and take on this project.