Hannah Starkey is a contemporary British photographer who is best known for her images of women in staged settings. Starkey says that her own photographs are 'explorations of everyday experiences and observations of inner city life from a female perspective'. The women featured in them are either actresses or anonymous strangers who she asks to pose. Hannah Starkey's photographs reconstruct scenes from everyday life with the concentrated stylisation of film. Her images picture women engaged in regular routines such as loitering the streets, sitting in cafes or shopping. She captures in between moments of daily life with a sense of relational detachment. Starkey often uses composition to intensify this sense of personal and emotional disconnection, with arrangements of lone figures.

My Response

To respond to Hannah Starkey's photography style, I decided to recreate some of  her tableaux photographs. Before capturing an image, I would show the subject the photo I wanted to recreate so she could pose in a similar way. To replicate her style and create a sense of relational detachment through the image, I (as the photographer) captured the subject from a distance to create a disconnection.

Photo shoot #1

 

Photo Shoot #2

  

Photo Shoot #3

For my attempt at tableaux vivant photography i decided to re create a scene from the film “mean Girls”.  The film follows a character named Cady Heron who was educated in Africa by her scientist parents. When they move to Illinois she experiences public high school, and befriends a group of girls -Regina, Karen and Gretchen- who are names “The Plastics”. Cady soon realises how the group of girls got their nicknames. This film was released in 2004, and depicts a stereotypical picture of how girls act. I chose to recreate a scene from this film as there are many interesting concepts and also because this film represents teenage girl culture.

Each main character in the movie have their own personalities and characteristics, yet they are also very alike due to the underlying theme of conformity. Below is a mind map where I have analysed each main character, along with their personalities, and also themes and concepts:

Mind map

Mood Board

This is a mood board of screenshots from “mean Girls”. This mood board has helped show how the colour pink, is very symbolic throughout the movie. I appears many times, and seems to symbolism femininity and womanliness for the characters in the film. As it seems to very important throughout the movie, I will make sure to incorporate the colour into my final piece.

Image I’m recreating

Context

This screenshot was at a part of the film where all the girls went shopping at the mall.

Technical

It is clear to see that the 4 characters are the main focus of the photograph, as they are all pictured in the middle of the frame. It is also sharp and in focus

Visual

I like how they’re all wearing pink, as it’s very bright and attractive to the eye. I also makes them stand out among everyone else in the background. It is also very aesthetically pleasing how each of the characters’ outfits complement each other well as it makes the image go together well. All of the characters also have different expressions and body poses, which adds interest as there’s more diversity within the image.

Concept

I chose to recreate this image because it is very rich in themes and underlying concepts. Firstly, you can clearly tell that there’s a lot of pink in this image. The reason there is much of this colour within this scene is because the colour pink represents femininity throughout the film, as it’s a colour stereotypically associated with females. Secondly, it’s clear that there is a hierarchy within the friendship between the girls. You can see that (from left to right) Cady, Karen and Gretchen are all posed staring directly at Regina (far right) as if she is very important, meaning that he hold great power and authority within the group. You can also tell that there is an underlying theme of conformity, is can clearly be seen through the fact that there all dressed in the same colour as if it brings them all comfort to look similar and not stand out.

It is also important how each of their poses represent their personality.  Cady (left) is stood with her arms tightly folded, showing she is feeling quite self conscious trying to fit in with the rest of the girls. Another way we can tell she is feeling self conscience is by the fact that she is not particularly engaging with the other girls, instead she is looking away with a rather anxious look on her face. She’s also stood and the end of the group of girls which represents how she feels quite distanced and different from the rest of the girls. This is also seen through her choice in shirt. Although it is pink, like the clothes of the rest of the girls, Cady is wearing what could be considered a stereotypically masculine choice of shirt, which further shows although she is trying to be like the other girls she is not 100% comfortable dressing stereotypically “girly”.  Karen (second from the left) Is stood at the end of the original groups of girls (excluding Cady) which shows how she is the “sheep” of her group due to her not being as “socially bright” and relying on the rest of the girls as an example on how she should behave. She has also got quite a blank expression on her face which further portrays her as being the “stupid” member of the group. Gretchen (third from the left) is standing very close to Regina – the groups’ leader- and she is also staring very intensely at her. This symbolises Gretchen’s desire to please Regina and it also shows the characters desire for praise from Regina. Lastly, Regina (Right) is the character who has the most attention in the image. This is achieved by a combination of many things. For example, all the other characters are looking at her which shows her importance in the group, and she also seems the boldest and most confident as she has a very happy expression on her face and seems care free as she talks on the phone.

Photo shoot plan

For my recreation of the image I will take my image in a part of the school where there is a large window so it best resembles the background of the original image. I will also have 4 models each specifically assigned to represent each character. With the help of my models, we have also decided on the appropriate clothing which resembles each of their specific character the best. For the photo shoot, I plan on using a soft box light to make sure that my image has a bright undertone to it like the original photograph, and also so the quality is sharp and so the picture is clear. To get the image accurate, I’ll also be getting my images to use props like a coffee cup and a phone.

Contact Sheet

Best outcomes

I cropped both of these images and added a slight vignette to the outside of both images to make it look more like a film scene. I decided to choose the first image as my best final outcome because it was brighter as I used a soft box light, and I thought that it had more of a similar tone to the original image.

Best edited outcome

Visual

Visually, I have made sure to position my models as close to the original image as possible. I also made sure to use a background as similar as possible to the background of the original image also. I chose to add a slight pink tint to this image using light room as pink was a very meaningful colour throughout the film. This is also the reason why my models worse pink close in in the photo shoot. The image also turned out very clear and sharp, which was due to the soft box light I used in the photoshoot

Concept

I wanted to make sure the models I chose for each character represented the concepts and individual personalities of the original characters from the film. I made sure that the model on the left, playing Cady, was wearing Jeans and a pink shirt as the jeans and the plain pink shirt represents how she was attempting to appear like the other girls yet she still didn’t feel comfortable doing so. On the other hand, my model on the far right was wearing the most pink out of all the models as it represented the original character’s status within the film. As she was the most important character in the group, she was also the one who wore the most pink.

Comparison between the original image and my final outcome

As my first attempt at Tableaux viviant, we decided to recreate the following image as a group.

Context

This piece depicting Christ being entombed was created between 1603-1604, for a chapel in Vallicella, Rome.

Technical

This painting was painted with an oil on a canvas. It contains dark toned colours and hardly any brightly tones colours.

Visual

This painting shows Christ being entombed. In the painting you can see him surrounded by 5 other people, 2 men holding him and 3 women crowding around him with sad and distressed looks on their faces. This painting is also quite darkly pained, and there’s not much light incorporated into the photo, making the painting convey negative feelings to the audience.

Conceptual

As the painting is quite dark, as I mentioned before, I think that it it is trying to convey how upsetting it was for people to witness Christ being entombed as the colour black is usually associated with death and negativeness. The way Carvaggio painted this darkly, also clearly shows that he himself pictures this moment quite darkly, which shows that the painter was a religious man who is saddened by this event. The way Caravaggo painted Christ as the only person in the painting wearing bright white, clearly shows he wanted Christ to stand out as the most important person in this image, which shows he probably hold Christ in high regards, and thinks highly of him also.

Process

Here you can see a member of our group directing the rest of the group in order to get us into a similar position to the people shown in Caravaggio’s painting. During this process it was important that the background was dark, which was the we decided to use the black backdrop. It took some times in order for the member of the group to be positioned properly, and for the lighting to also be set out accurately. After we all knew where we were standing and how we had to pose out bodies in order to achieve an accurate representation of the original painting,  the directer along with the photographer moved onto the lighting. A light was placed focused on our group that we all stood out and also so that the background was a dark colour in comparison to the people posed.

Contact sheet

Final outcome

This was the best image outcome captured by the photographer. In this image we have successfully been able to position ourselves similar to those that were pained in the painting. We have also successful been able to convey our assigned characters’ emotions on our faces, which is an important element in tableaux. The background is also very ark which helps us to convey the elements of darkness and death from Caravaggio’s painting into our image. This was achieved through a black background, and also by the strategic placing of lighting which made the actors stand out even more compared to the background.

Analysing the process

While experiencing this process I learnt many important things that I will use, and take into consideration when I do my own tableaux photo shoot.

Firstly, I learnt that the most important part of tableaux is the positioning of the actors along with their expressions, rather than how you actually take the image itself. The majority of the time in this photo shoot, went into making sure we looked accurate and also into making sure the light and the background complemented each other so that our image would convey the same concept that the painting did.

Secondly, I noticed that the director has to be very clear with their instructions, and that they also need to have a very clear vision in their head of how they want the scenery to look. Since a huge part of obtaining a successful tableaux image is planning, I know that when I come to do  my own it has to be well planned so that it turns out accurately. I also now know how important scenery/location and lighting is in order to make a successful tableaux image.