Christopher McKenney is a conceptual artist from Pennsylvania specializing in horror surrealist photography. He is also known for his live concert photography alongside his ability to capture his concepts. In 2012 he went to the woods with only a sheer, a chair and a frame, he began taking photos. He achieved the images below by self-portraits in which he put the sheet over his head and photo-shopped his body out.

 ‘I like taking away identity when photographing and to leave people thinking. I only make the photos I do to express myself and what other people see or think is up to them, as long as I make them feel anything I’m OK with that.’

McKenney has used natural daylight to capture this image, the colour tone is fairly warm from the fallen leaves. This is a self-portrait which was taken on a self-timer so that he had time to put the sheet over his head and position himself in the seat. There is high level of control in this image as he is manipulating where he places the chair, how he puts the sheet at an angle, the background, it can be seen as a tableaux vivant as he is essentially acting out a concept. The textures are rough with the dead leaves collated on the forest floor and the green leaves blowing in the wind which contrast with the dull prickly branches. The image is neither over or under exposed, McKenney achieved his by trial and error as well as editing in photoshop when erasing his body from the chair to create this ghost like image. The project itself is called ‘Self-Ghosts’, McKenney doesn’t go into detail about the idea behind the concept and says it’s up to the audience to decode their own concept. Personally, I think that he is representing the idea that we make ourselves evil, we all have hidden demons, some people choose to let them free by exerting criminal act for instance whereas other leave their self-ghost dormant. On the other hand, I believe that McKenney is also trying to portray the idea that both the supernatural and ‘real world connect in everyday life. The contrast between the the chair/sheet and the ghost creates the concept that the supernatural isn’t so different to use and that they can experience the same world as us. The focal point is the floating sheet and then the audiences eyes moves out to see the chair then the forest setting, this links with this concept and how McKenney is telling a story with the the ‘normal’ background and the abnormal ‘foregroud’.