Deciding on a single image for assignment four was unsurprisingly a challenging task, the volume of choice was potentially paralysing. Should it be old or new, iconic or unknown, personal or in the public domain, black and white or colour…?
In an attempt to narrow things down my thoughts went to photographers rather than images and I tried to compile a shortlist, those photographers whose work has influenced me in some ways over the years:
- Ansel Adams
- Anne Zahalka
- Bill Perroneau
- Tim Flach
- Laura Letinsky
- Olivia Parker
- Jo Spence
- Marianne Drew
- Joy Gregory
- Gregory Crewdson
I realised as the list unfolded that I had a definite leaning towards more contemporary photographers. These were also photographers whose works I felt I had a strong emotional connection with. In the case of four of them I am fortunate to have their work in my home and have been living with them for some years, ironically I decided this familiarity was perhaps not so helpful and that encouraged me to exclude them.
I was therefore erring towards a living photographer, someone who I could potentially contact to discuss their work, rather than one of the ‘greats’. I decided not to work with a personal image, partly because I was mindful of putting it on the blog, but perhaps I did want a photograph that may not be widely known.
While I was researching ideas for assignment three I had been looking at magical realism and I’m not quite sure why it came up but as part of an online search I discovered the work of Dara Scully. I was completely captivated by her work, and the series with children was unlike anything else I had seen. I recognised something personal in their light and dark emotional field. I revisited the series and thought “The Cut’ was the image I wanted to work with. Initially I was concerned that this might not be acceptable because it was a single figure with shallow depth of field but I put a print on the wall and lived with it for a while. Slowly a wide range of themes emerged, every time I saw it something new came to mind. I was sure this was the photograph I wanted to explore.
