Individual Identity

Duane Michals is an American photographer who is widely known for his work with series, multiple exposures and text. He first made a significant impact in the field of photography in the 1960s. In an era heavily influenced by photojournalism, he manipulated photography to communicate a narrative and often used a cinema-style frame-by-frame format.

His use of a storyboard format has inspired me to look at presenting my series of images in the same way using Photoshop to do so. I think this strengthens his images as it allows the viewer to see the images as a story, making the narrative element really obvious. I think this will strengthen my work as it will make the narrative more obvious to the viewer. I plan to shoot a triptych of narrative images and stitch them together in Photoshop.

Series One is titled ‘Chance Meeting’ and shows what appears to be two strangers meeting on the street. Each of the images has the same frame and the subject moves. This is my favourite element of Michals’ work and I think this is something I could replicate in my own work. The images have been composed so that the wall acts as a leading line towards the subjects of the image and this is effective in moving the viewer’s eye through the images. The monochrome of the images was typical at the time they were shot but I also think this adds to the storytelling element of the images and this is something that I could also replicate.

Series Two, titled ‘The Dream of Flowers’ consists of four images that have the same frame, much like Series One, but this time the amount of props has increased rather than the model moving, which I think is effective in telling a story. What’s particularly interesting about the images is that it’s difficult to tell whether the model is resting his head on and being reflected in a body of water or whether it’s a glass table, and I think this intrigue will entice the viewer and encourage them to study the images further.

Series Three is titled ‘The Fallen Angel’ and consists of eight images. Of all Michals’ series I’ve chosen to look at, I think this one has the most complex narrative and holds several potential connotations. This is aided by the contrast in the colours of the angel’s costume as it moves from white to black throughout the sequence.  Much like the previous two series, the frame remains the same for each image and the subjects move, and I think this allows the focus to remain on the models.