The Art of photography

RespondingtotheSubject

Assignment:ASpecialObject

Yourassignmentistotakethismanne-

quinand,usingitinasituation,makea

picturethat

will

satisfyyoucreativelyand

communicateyourreactiontotheviewer.

Forthisassignment,whichwasdesigned

asakindoffundamentaltestoftheim-

portanceoftheresponsefactorinpicture

taking,anold-fashionedwoodenmanne-

quin

(page77)was

selected

asthesub-

jectbecauseofitsbasicambiguity.Hu-

maninstructurebutdevoidoflife

and

gender,itrepresentedavisualenigma

whoseidentityandmeaningwereunde-

termined.And,in
fact,itevokedremark-

ablydivergentresponsesfromthepro-

fessionalphotographers
chosenfor this

assignment.Somephotographerswere

charmedbyitsageand
bytheeffortits

maker
hadputintocarvingandstaining

itspinefeatures.Someofthemsawitas

almosthuman,
otherswerekeenlyaware

ofitsdeadnessandseveral photogra-

phersvieweditwith
distaste.

MarciaKayKeeganrespondedtothe

mannequininadecidedlyunconvention-

alway.
Despiteitsartificiality,shefeltthat

itwassomehowalive,andshe
wasdeter-

minedtosuggest
theinaudiblepulseof

life
withinitsimitation humanform. At

first,shethoughtoftaking
themannequin

outintothecountrysidetoshowhow

easilyitfittedintonature.Anotherpossi-

bilitywastophotographitinNewYork

City'sTimesSquare—alocationwhose

jangled, mechanizedpersonalitywould

pointupaplacidcharacterthatsheread

intothemannequin.

Theserenityshesawinthewooden

figureimpressedher

mostofall,and,as

she

musedonthisquality,theanswer

cameto her.Shewould

pose

the

manne-

quinin

ayogaposition,contemplatinga

bouquetofchrysanthemums,asthough

seekingtobecome

onewithnatureand

theuniverse.

Havingdecidedon

thispresentation,

MissKeeganfacedtheproblemofget-

tingtheproperqualityoflight:

Shewant-

edthe

mannequintoshowakindofinner

glowthatsheassociatedwithspirituality.

Forabackdrop,

sheusedyellowseam-

lesspaper.Asmallflashlight,covered

withasheetofyellow

gelatin,wasaimed

atthemannequin'sface.Buttheprinci-

palsourceoflightwascandles

—eightof

them

placedbehindthemannequinand

twoinfront.Inthiswarm,luminous

ambi-

ance,the mannequinisremovedfrom

theinanimateworldandtakesonthe

ap-

pearanceof

a

living

creature,filledwith

anairofinnerpeace.