Going to the NGV was an utter blast this week, really good to get out of the classroom!

Bill Henson’s almost Mapplethorpian aesthetic grabbed me immediately. The juxtapositions of youth, the natural world and classical art all melded together into this moody, harmonic image of the human condition for me. The dark, shadowy, cool toned aesthetic was so easy to absorb and ponder as well.

William Eggleston’s portraits felt so cinematic, like every image told its own story. I think that the first thing that really gripped me was the literal clarity of each image; the resolution, colour and technical brilliance of each picture made them look like they had been taken yesterday. Turns out the film that he used was a high quality cousin of Technicolour film used in cinema, which I believe is a contributing factor to the cinematic feeling of his series. I find that Eggleston’s method of composition and using high key or low key lighting also creates this feeling of a story being told. We get a sense of context, perspective, wondering where the characters have come from, where they are going and what they are thinking. I want to be able to apply this idea to my photo essay and create a sense of a story, simple or complex, being told.