A collection of recent images and the questions they raise. Out hunting for chairs –
Account Manager’s Chair
Shooting the account manager’s chairs was relatively easy. I sought permission to shoot in the store and, preferring the backdrop and palate of this particular aisle proceeded to a take a number of pictures.
The chair was as I found it, all I had to do in post was balance levels and white balance.
It is cool and clinical, and very fresh, and the label hanging from the stool emphasises a newness that fits with the bright white retail space.
Other experiments involved including (unrecognisable) people in the photo, but the power of the human form draws the eye away from the scene, proving the old adage that a photograph that includes a person, can become a photograph of that person.
I also returned to the store after making this photograph to confirm the owner’s job title. Having been ready to ascribe a number of different titles to their labour I was once again conscious that I was labelling them.
Store Manager’s Chair
How much can I interact with the setting before I change it into something it wasn’t beforehand. When I went to photograph ‘Store Manager’s Chair’ I found that it had boxes resting on it and it was tucked under the desk.
The photo would not have worked had I left it thus, and yet to move the boxes and to turn the chair could be considered a violation of a documentary ethic.
Police Officer’s Chair
I could not photograph this chair in-situ, as the officer was unable to allow me into the office. Various rules understandably apply to whom can and cannot access these spaces and so I was offered the chance to photograph the chair in the hallway.
The officer kindly wheeled his chair into the hall where I photographed it both with and without flash, and using a super-wide due to space constraints.
That this chair is not where it should be, poses interesting questions in terms of spatial interaction with the subject. If I move the Store Manager’s chair, that’s one thing. If the officer moves his own for my benefit, is that the same?
Barber’s Chair
Finally the barber’s chair. This stuck me as an interesting dichotomy. The chair is a barber’s chair. It belongs to him. (In fact he rents the chair from the shop owner.) However he rarely sits in it, if ever and much like the Sex-worker he is not in the chair when he is working.
This again is a public retail space, clean, fresh and open. Whilst I’m happy with the image, it doesn’t feel edifying or exploratory.
I turned the chair, as the store was populated and I wanted this backdrop, once again interacting with my subject, and changing it.