Narrative Photographs

Narrative photography implies a before and an after, leaving the viewer to think deeply about the subject matter and therefore leaves the narrative quite open-ended with usually many meanings associated with the image.

One type of narrative photography is named tableau: Tableau vivant (plural: tableaux vivants) means “living picture”. The term, borrowed from the French language, describes a group of suitably costumed actors or artist’s models, carefully posed and often theatrically lit. (from dictionary.com) Tableau style images are like film stills without the whole film attached to it and rather just the idea of what is/what has happened or happening. These frozen moments give suggestion to other events outside of a photograph and I am interested in this style of photography for the fact that there is a deeper story you can engage with.

We looked at various narrative photography artists and here are some of my favorites:

Gregory Crewdson

Gregory Crewdson

Gregory Crewdson

“Every artist has a central story to tell, and the difficulty, the impossible task, is trying to present that story in pictures. “~ Crewdson

I enjoy the mystery surrounding Crewdson’s images and was interested to find out that he is influenced by Alfred Hitchcock as when I saw these images that’s the impression I got from them. There is a lonely feeling among the images, deep isolation within everyday settings.

Duane Michals: Dr. Heisenberg’s Magic Mirror of Uncertainty 1998

Michals tends to stray away from traditional narrative forms of photography where you see a beginning, middle and end however there is still an element of a story in his images and I love the above photograph especially because it uses mirrors which I have an interest in using in my final project. I like that in this image the model does not give the camera direct eye contact until the final image which in a way is the ‘end’ of the narrative; you are seeing the subject face to face and not through a mirror. (But you still are seeing her through a lens….)

In our lesson we were sent off in groups to create narrative images; one image that tells a narrative and also a short series of images that speak as a narrative together. Here are the series of images that we thought looked narrative and in the style of Crewsdon:

The subject (Alice King) is obviously on a journey to somewhere or from somewhere, and there is an air of mystery surrounding the images. I edited them in black and white to create a film noire style image, with slight vinaigrette to add drama and mood.

Below was our attempt at capturing a narrative in a photograph using just one image (I have chosen a couple to show, but are edited differently but are all the same idea):

Editing as a tool can change the feel of an image, especially when you can set it up like tableau style images, which are seen above. I prefer the first image which is not edited very much, just subtly toned down the color and brightness, as I believe over-editing can ruin an image when done to extremes. I also like the framing for this image and the use of ‘doubles’ in the photograph as it creates a symmetrical and institutionalized genre. The middle image was just playing around, but comparing this to the top image it does change the narrative of the photograph to a less isolated and more upbeat feeling. The bottom image was using double exposure overlaying images on top of the original image. I chose the moon and clouds to link to Crewdson’s work as he usually does his photographs during the early hours in the morning or evening when there is no one about. This image is almost dream-like, with connotations of the moon leading to the idea of isolation.

Questions from class/reader:

1. What makes a photograph narrative? For a photograph to be narrative it has a story to tell within the image. It can be an event that has just taken place, or something that is just about to happen. 
2. What techniques allow us to imagine the unfolding of events over time, in a still image? Almost always, the photographer uses a model in narrative images and as seen in tableaux style photography the model is posed to be doing something or focusing our attention onto something or someone with their gaze. The setting and props in narrative imagery is important as they act as signifiers for particular emotions or actions. The subject normally has no interaction with the camera or photographer – they are in their own little world and us as the viewers are just observing what is happening. Obviously, a series of narrative photographs allows the photographer to show how events are progressing or changing in the image, whereas photographers who take a single image to create a narrative photograph have a harder job in order to capture everything in one shot. 
3. What can digitally manipulated and/or staged images achieve that ‘straight’ photography cannot, in relation to narrative? The photographer has more free reign in what they can photograph, and most of these set up images can look like film stills. Straight narrative photography is a lot harder as you have to capture the moment perfectly. I presume this takes a lot more time and patience and is a case of being in the right place at the right time. How is the ambiguity of these photographs related to their status as art photography?