The Art of photography

ChallengingTraditions

IntotheThirdDimension

Althoughmostphotographersfindtheir

subjectmatterexistingintherealworld,

otherscreateworldsoftheirowntopho-

tograph.Theyprefer

to

arrange

objects

onatabletop,posemodelsina studio

orconstructthingsespeciallytobepho-

tographed.Thesetechniqueshavemost

frequentlybeenexploitedforadvertising

andfashion
photographs.Butagrowing

numberofindividualistsareborrowing

advertisingtechniquestocreateoutland-

ishpictures,manyofthemunsettlingand

somehoky,thathavenoresemblanceto

advertisements.

Thesecreatedphotographsmaybeas

bereftofliteral
meaningasDadaistwall-

paper—oroverflowingwitharcanevisual

punsand

jokes.But

all

arelinkedbytheir

makers'desiretofindavisualformfor

theirownideas.

The

newmodehasaffinitieswithsculp-

ture,sincethree-dimensionalmodelsare

used.Italsolooks

backtoa19thCentury

traditionofstagingelaboratetableaux

forthecamera,

suchasthosearranged

byVictorianphotographerJuliaMargaret

Camerontoillustratepopularstories.But

thereisadifference.The19thCentury

photographershopedthattheirfakere-

creationswould

betaken

for

real.Butthe

photographerswhospecializeincreated

pictures

todaydonottrytodeceive.Their

pictures arenotfakeanything,theyare

genuinefiction.

Glowingcylindersofpaperandlightwe

madebythephotograperespeciallyforthepicti

atright,providingbothsubjectandilluminatic

Hewrappedsheetsofwhitephotograpl

backgroundpaperaroundtwofluorescentlie

tubes,thenputstripsof

coloredpaperinea

cylinder,therightcylinderwastornandsplit

allowmorelighttogetthrouc