The Art of photography

Respondingto

theSubject:ASpecialObject

PeteTurner

wasnotparticularlymoved

bythemannequin.Althoughhelikedits

colorandthe

carewithwhichithadbeen

carved,hedidnotseeorfeelanytran-

scendentmeaning.

Itremainedanobject

inhiseyes,andhehadnourgetoturnit

intoahumanbeingor

tomakeacom-

mentwithit.

Seekingawaytoincorporatethe

ob-

jectinastrongdesignscheme,hetoyed

withtheideaofhavingthemannequinre-

flectitselfrepeatedlyinamirror.Thenhe

begantonoticethemannequin'sage."I

knew

it

wasold,''hesaid,"and

I

had

thefeelingitwasprobablyinthewrong

placeintime.Itwillprobablylastlonger

thantheperiodoftimeIwilllivein."This

ideaprovidedthesolutionhehadbeen

lookingfor:Hewouldusecolorand mo-

tiontocreateafeelingoftime.

Thepictureisatourdeforceoftechni-

calingenuity.Heposedthemannequin

againstwhiteseamlesspaper.Thenhe

hungablackcurtaininfrontofit,andcut

outarectangular"door"

throughwhichit

couldbeseen.Togivethemannequin's

headitsownframe,he

placedablack

cardboardbar,fourincheswide,across

theopeninginthecurtain,

therebytrans-

forming

thedoorintoaDutchdoor.

Turnerfittedhiscamerawitha35mm

perspective-control

lens.Oftenusedto

reduceperspectivedistortioninarchitec-

turalphotography,suchalenscan

move

up

anddownorsidewise(achievingthe

sameresultsasthetiltsandswings

ofa

view

camera'sbellows)whilethefilmre-

mainsinfixedposition.Itcanshifttheim-

ageonthefilmwithout

alteringimage

shape.Turnermovedthelensinastep-

likeprogression,exposing

at

intervals

—

withafewdeviationsinthepatternto

keepthearrangementfrombeingboring.

Inthismanner

hemadetwoidentical

negatives,eachwitheightseparateex-

posuresonit.Andeachexposurewas

shotwithadifferentcolorfilter.Turner

thencombinedthetwonegativesintoa

sandwich.

Wheretheimageswereidenti-

cal,heprintedthemslightlydisplaced

fromanexactoverlapinordertoaddva-

rietytothepattern.