The Art of photography

RespondingtotheSubject:

ASpecialObject

Dean

Brown'sresponsetothemanne-

quinwasstrongly

negative:Headmired

its

workmanshipbutfoundit

repulsive.

"It'samockeryoflife—

deaderthanany-

thingIcanimagine.''Hedecidedto

ex-

pressthis

repellentlifelessnessbyphoto-

graphingthefigureona

beach,whereit

would

seemlikeastrangepieceof

flot-

samcastupbythesea.

Brownspentonewholeday

driving

alongtheshoresof

LongIslandsearch-

ingforthekindofbeachhe

hadinmind.

Butinevery

settinghetried,thedesired

surrealqualitywas

lacking.Hearoseat

dawnthe

followingdayandagaintook

themannequintoabeach,

hopingthat

theearly-morninglightwould

imparta

strangemoodto

hispicture—buthestill

sensedthathewasfailingtoconvey

his

response

satisfactorily.

Thenitoccurredtohimthat

thedead-

nessofthe

mannequinmightbecome

reallyapparentinaplace

whereliving

peopledwell.Hetookittothehouseofa

girlhe knew,and

placeditinherliving

room.Againthesituationseemed"faked

andwrong."

Thenhedroppeditinalong

hallway;itcametorestin

whathede-

scribesas

an"awfulposition.

• '

Brown

hadthegirlstandcloseto

themanne-

quin,butsomethingwasstillmissing.He

askedhertowalkpast

theprostratefig-

ureonthefloor.Pleasedwiththiseffect,

hedecidedto

blurthemotionslightly,

usingaslowshutterspeed,makingthe

girlseem

morealiveandthemannequin

evenlessso.

Atlast,everythingseemedtofit—the

grotesque

positionofthemannequin,the

crampedbarrenhallwayandthemystery

ofthegirlpassingby.

Theresultingpho-

tograph,socircuitouslyarrivedat,adds

uptoa

deeplydisturbingvisittosome-

one'snightmare.