Alec Soth

Alec Soth was born in 1969 in the USA and his work mainly features American stories, particularly the midwest. He has described himself as focusing his “photographic career on finding chemistry with strangers” and making portraits of a wide variety of people from all walks of life, often in their own homes in the form of environmental portraits. In this respect, he is similar to Ernest Badoux. He has published several books, and the images below are all taken form his most recent publication, “I Know How Furiously Your Heart Is Beating”, which is mainly comprised of environmental portraits of strangers in their homes.

“This is how photography works — this appreciation of all these surfaces, all this beauty. But you can’t quite get inside. It’s about making do with that.”

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Contrasting Ernest Badoux’s black and white portraits taken in a studio environment, the tone of which is very formal, these portraits are colourful and taken from various different and more contemporary angles, giving them a more informal sense and creating the sensation that the camera lens is acting as the eye of the view. This, coupled with the fact that the subjects are (mostly) staring directly down the lens, adds to the feeling that the viewer is interrupting a private moment and intruding on their personal and private space, completely opposite to Badoux.

“When I photograph people, I want to find a new way to engage with them. Where it’s not driving around, snagging people, talking them into stuff they don’t want to do.”

Soth also differs from Badoux in the way that his photos are titled, simply being the subject’s first name and the city they live in, in stark contrast to Badoux’s formal and stiff use of titles (Mr, Mrs, Miss) and last names. This makes Soth’s portraits more personal and engaging than Badoux’s.

As well as portraits, he also included a few images titled as somebody’s “view”, which in themselves reveal little about the people who’s views they are, but more about what sort of environment they are living in. In a way this is still a very personal and intimate subject to photograph, as it’s what that person would see every single day as part of their routine, and so it is a central part of their life.

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PHOTOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS-

This image features much more symbolism than Ernest Badoux’s work, as its intention is more to tell a narrative and convey a meaning than simply document a person’s existence. This photograph could be said to carry a strong theme of identity, represented in the multi-faceted mirrors and the photo frames on the vanity. The way that the subject is looking back at herself from multiple angles as well as having pictures of her younger self (I am assuming) reveals how the passage of time has changed her and perhaps signifies a loss of identity or self-love. Her expression seems sad and tearful, which is by choice rather than necessity, as it was with Badoux’s photography, therefore it carries more emotion and significance in it. The lighting in this image is bright and from above, as it was taken inside, and the whole image’s colour palette is fairly monochrome and neutral, contrasting much of Soth’s other work featuring bright interiors and clothes. Finally, similar to Badoux, the subject is the centre of the image which draws the eye in and reinforces her as the main focal point of the photograph as a whole.

LINKS-

https://alecsoth.com/photography/projects/i-know-how-furiously-your-heart-is-beating

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/20/t-magazine/alec-soth.html