Hey, Hot Shot! Contender: Jeremy Chandler
Untitled (Eric 2) by HHS entrant Jeremy Chandler
Jeremy Chandler is the current Photographer Laureate for the City of Tampa, where he resides. Chandler states that he “playfully question(s) and explore(s) a myriad of issues including land use, utopian ideals, alterity, masculinity and class.” Playfully? More like a head-on assault via beautifully staged shots of masculine ideals and fears, the postures of fighting and hunting, and nature.
July 2nd, 2008 at 8:49 am
Very storytelling. Love the composition.
Effective and evocative, ie. not a crooked photograph of a boarded up house that MAY, with correct exposure, cropping and depth of field have been SOMETHING, but fails. This succeeds with its intent and is dynamic rather than poorly executed “found art”
July 2nd, 2008 at 3:22 pm
This series is far too stylized for my taste, and in this case it works against what it is trying to achieve. The matching camo bandana in particular puts it over the top. To go out and find scenes like these occuring naturally, with non “actors” would give them that much more power and feeling to them - not the blank stare of a man who probably hasn’t had to deal with these issues and think the thoughts of the person he is meant to represent. Recreating scenes which one could possibly find with a real group of hunters seems cheap - and in turn it makes the photograph itself suffer.
July 2nd, 2008 at 4:23 pm
I appreciate both what DW and SoWhat? have to say here, but having said that, I should warn against trying to get shots of real hunters in their enviroment. This is very dangerous indeed. I think Mr.Chandler was wise in avoiding this. Full credit should be given to Mr.Chandler for a really excellent somewhat cinematic photograph (I’d love to see more). I would imagine that it’s hard to come up with something that even comes near to capturing a true enviroment that men like these would inhabit.
DW’s comments are well thought out and I believe that the point is taken, still though this to me is a powerful shot. A pleasent departure from thin faced young people standing in front of interesting wallpaper.
July 2nd, 2008 at 6:30 pm
I appreciate your comment Byron, I wish to build upon it.
It seems these days people are using very large negatives to convey very small ideas when in the past smaller negatives were used to show much “bigger” and more powerful ideas.
(though I do appreciate and enjoy the large format photography of alec soth, and joel sternfeld… to name a few)
As Robert Capa famously said, “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough”, if we don’t take this too literally we can understand the point I’m trying to make more clearly. Capa probably addressing war photography specifically when he said that, and we all know the dangers of it…. if not from the documentary on James Nachtwey, then from the tragic way that Capa’s life ended.
It may be dangerous to take pictures of real hunters, but taking that risk would only make the photographs that much better, more “real”, and more worthwhile for the person viewing the photograph (and in my opinion - the person taking it). Why settle for a cinematic or representative photograph when we can get the real thing. This I see too much in photography these days, people not getting “close enough” to the subjects they are photographing. I would love to see Mr Chandler’s take on real hunters and what would come out of that. I feel the results would be much different than what we have seen here.
July 4th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
Actors or not, I see a hunter. This picture is a good one - one of the best in the contenders section imo. Is anyone else tired of seeing pictures of stylized junkies & sex-workers (exploitation much?)? Hunters, introspection, landscape, now that’s where it’s at.
July 7th, 2008 at 4:57 pm
hahaha!