Taking inspiration from Crewdson and Maplethorpe, and advice from my peers and tutor, I returned to the location under the train bridges I had previously been very happy with and reshot at an earlier time of the day, paying closer attention to my framing and positioning, and with a clear defined figure. The figure in question wears a simple black hoodie and jeans with his hands revealed, but his face covered in a leather dog mask. He is positioned in further back into the setting, under the stairs but in the glow of the streetlight, and stares upwards at something the camera, and the audience, are unable to ever see. I see this image as my most successful to date, the colour and composition work together with the setting and subject to form a clear and cohesive photograph demonstrating an enigmatic narrative similar to that of Crewdson, while taking the bold inspiration of fetish from Maplethorpe.
After that first successful image, and inspired by Alex Boyd, I have asked my friends to get involved modeling for me. As it happens, I have many friends who have no problem at all donning leather and rubber masks, or (as in the image below) other fetish items such as a respirator. Unfortunately for my portfolio, only one friend was free in order to create images before the end of this module, as it happens, I am still happy to include work without figures in my portfolio as they show the locations, lighting, and general atmosphere I intend to create, but over the next few weeks I intend to revisit many locations in order to shoot with my various figures. The following four images are from my first shoot with a model.
In this last image, I experimented with adding two figures into the scene. Donning a leather mask myself, I stepped on to create a tension between the two figures in this enclosed space. If they were to walk past each other, there would be physical contact. Unsure of each others intentions they stand and wait, the masks hide there eyes, and only body language can communicate between them. The connection here to cruising, or "Dogging" as its also known, is clear. Two people out in a remote and covered location at night, standing and waiting in the darkness, when I presented this image to my friends, they immediately thought my project was about cruising before I had even explained anything. Perhaps this is an indication of what path to take next.