HLP Day Two :: Bowden Creative Space

OK, it's 12:30am and I am only just downloading shots from today's development - so hopefully I can make sense! Today was great - more progressive in terms of the movement work that Carol and Lisa are developing, and slightly progressive in terms of what we may see in the frame.

 Carol & Lisa working on 'Isadora'

I was hoping to achieve some clarity around the 'set' - the environment we see the characer/s in and the frame we define. I did manage to get a few black grid elements into the frame but am still really unsure about whether it's going to work. I think if we do go ahead with this idea it will need to be explored beyond the windows and perhaps onto the platform..? The grid's function is the create an environment within which the trajectory or change of the subject's movement over time can be examined - but each block also creates an interesting 'frame' within which the composition of the subject can be considered for use as an artist's tool for 'enlargement' strategies (micro / macro).

Lisa really likes the glass backdrop and the existing structure of the windows - I agree and think it would be great to hang onto the structure of what we have, which is already interesting. But I am really missing an enivironment within which we are clear that an analysis of movement is an objective. Sure, there are lots of ways this can be expressed, and I'm sure we do need to explore those, but I am not yet ready to abandon Muybridge's anthropometric grid. Is there any potential in the idea we are playing with at the moment? Or do I need to go back to the idea of a gridded backdrop (blackboard 'flats') and strip away any location characteristics? Problem is, we don't have the time or budget to really explore too many options and I do need to make a decision - but you can't force that, right?

working with fabric

a few more grid elements..added at the end of the day

Anyway, onto the movement..Carol & Lisa worked on the 'Isadora' piece - referencing Muybridge's 'Fancy Dancing' and an undressing sequence. They worked loosely from the images and were playing with the fabric of the character's 'drapery'. In documenting some of the movement I was just enjoying the playfulness and the compositions - pretty standard images but it's just fun to work with dance as a photographer!

'floor' work with the fabric

I shot a sequence of movement with my Nikon. It has been developed beyond this footage, but this is a quick exploration of the movement in the space using timelapse, and considering the semi-silhouette in that space (given that I may be blocking most of the backlight I'm not sure how useful the lighting consideration is here, but it all trickled down into some sort of decision making)..

The next 'vignette mash-up' to be explored is the Horse in Motion (yes, this is the 'Human' Locomotion Project, but how could we not reference Muybridge's faous horse?). We had quite a few ideas and again, a playful approach seems to be the driving force of the material at the moment.

Quite elegant

Carol was inspired by the watering can I brought in for one of the other characters, and decided it would make a good horse head. She's incredibly creative and full of quirky ideas. I like this, it feels rather Duchampian!

A nod to Duchamp..dada potential