Here is a ring flash blad shot of dad, there is a ton of contrast added to this, not sure I can achieve this look in the darkroom. Maybe if I use my high contrast papers, with a condenser enlarger and a special developer of some kind. Not really anything close to reality as this shot is rather highly maniupulted but I think this interpretive portrait shows a bit of the hell my poor father is going through.
How do you photograph pain? How do you photograph your fathers last days? How do you deal with the end of the life of a person you love? How do you help them through these days? How do you say goodbye in photographs? How do you photograph honestly and with respect but without covering the truth? These are questions I am asking myself now as I make these photos of my father.
I want to photograph my father in an truthful way, to humanize and show with honesty what he is going through, but yet I also want to show the proper respect. If I do not tell his story in a real way, in a way that it is true to what is happening I do a disservice to him. He is allowing me in, he is giving me some of the time he has left, and I cannot sugarcoat and gloss over what he is experiencing. This is not a pretty time in anyones life and making pretty pictures would be like lying about my father and lying to my father, I cannot do that. I will strive to make photos that convey what his life is like now and yet do so with respect and love. Doing this will be the way I honour him.
How do you photograph pain? How do you photograph your fathers last days? How do you deal with the end of the life of a person you love? How do you help them through these days? How do you say goodbye in photographs? How do you photograph honestly and with respect but without covering the truth? These are questions I am asking myself now as I make these photos of my father.
I want to photograph my father in an truthful way, to humanize and show with honesty what he is going through, but yet I also want to show the proper respect. If I do not tell his story in a real way, in a way that it is true to what is happening I do a disservice to him. He is allowing me in, he is giving me some of the time he has left, and I cannot sugarcoat and gloss over what he is experiencing. This is not a pretty time in anyones life and making pretty pictures would be like lying about my father and lying to my father, I cannot do that. I will strive to make photos that convey what his life is like now and yet do so with respect and love. Doing this will be the way I honour him.
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| Dad in high contrast, May 1 2014 |
