Overview of Digalakis’ Work – My interpretation
Digalakis’ work leans to a surreal side of landscape photography, with his images using striking subject matter made more intense by his use of a black and white colour palette. A lot of his work involves water, be it from the seas, lakes, streams, or otherwise, that he makes smooth and almost dream-like by his use of a slow shutter speed to capture the movement of the waters over a longer period of time, giving it a misty, unnatural, yet calming aesthetic. A similar effect is achieved in some of the skies in his images as well, sometime making the waters and the skies seem eerily similar. Some of his images involving water has a subject that emerges from it, such as a rock or tree, which puts an emphasis on the subject not only due to the contrast it creates (with the water usually being a white and the subject being black), but also to perhaps put focus on nature as a whole. In addition to this, some of his photographs include animals, such as birds, to give life to this otherwise desolate landscape he creates.
As stated earlier, in some of his images Digakalis uses a slow shutter speed to let in more light over a longer period of time, the effect of this is to make the skies and waters more smooth and unnatural. Because of this, and due to how he seems to take his images during the day time (some on overcast days, some on clear days), he would likely increase his camera’s aperture and use a tripod to make sure the image does not look blurry or too light. For my own personal study, I think it will be interesting to attempt to recreate his style on a Jersey coastline.
Moodboard of his work
Image Analysis
This is one of Digalakis’ images that makes use of a long shutter speed to make the water and sky softer, giving the image a surreal, yet calming aesthetic. However, not only the water and sky has been affected in this image, but the boats as well. Due to the shutter speed being slower, the movements of the boats has made them look blurry, furthering the surrealism in the image. I like the effect this creates as it seems to blend the boats to the water, meaning the image itself has little contrast outside of tone. This image may have been taken on an overcast day, which gives the sky a darker tone than the sea, effectively framing the scene and giving the image a more intense feel. With regards to Digalakis’ work, Hussein Najem says, ‘he reinforced the works, a smooth silky introduction, that came due to the long exposure, giving the recipient calm, serenity, and reassurance’, suggesting that it is Digalakis’ use of a slow shutter speed that gives his images a serene tone.
The blurred boats could represent a sense of time and movement at a surface level, however it may also represent unfamiliarity, a loss of identity or, in the boat’s case, purpose. As for the capturing of time, Digalakis explains that this effect moves the images ‘away from reality, introducing the sense of passing time and eliminating details from the background’.
Sources: