Where I find inspiration: Films - Maya Deren
Added 2021-08-31 19:30:43 +0000 UTCThis is the first (I believe) post I've shared concerning my current sources of inspiration.
I'll start by saying that almost without exception I do Not find inspiration in most contemporary photography. Indeed, I actively try to ignore as much of it as possible. A part of this practice is to avoid having an idea for photograph ruined by seeing it done by someone else. The perception of plagiarism does still bother me - though it doesn't seem to concern a sizeable portion of other online photographers. But I also simply do not find most modern art very fulfilling. Art has become content.
Instead, I prefer to go back to some of the original pioneers of a genre or discipline for inspiration: Helmut Newton for his blurring of the erotic, editorial and art genres; Edward Weston for his starkness, simplicity and honesty in portraying the female body. These two are my main inspirations from the world of photography.
I do, however, find more inspiration from the world of films. I don't quite understand why, but a beautiful bit of cinematography is much more inspiring than a beautiful photograph for me. Perhaps I was meant to be a film-maker, I don't know.
So I find many of my still images paying homage to some great films - the Classics from classic directors, set designers and cinematographers. Maya Deren, however, doesn't really fit this mold. (Her most famous short film, "Meshes of the Afternoon" is linked above.)
In a bit of serendipity, one of my models, Solar, and I both discovered her work online at exactly the same time. We were each fascinated by how mesmerizing (for us) her work could be using only the simple techniques available to her in her time. For example, her use of simply reversing the film after having moved - in reverse - during filming results in something that is oddly fascinating, eerie and beautiful all at once. Solar has become a bit of an expert at modeling - in reverse.
This single technique has inspired so many ideas for Solar and I. We are constantly sending each other new ideas and have quite a backlog of projects we want to do. Stay tuned!
I have expanded on this interest in creating a sense of the uncanny, the feeling that something at once familiar is also very alien. I've recently done some video outdoor and in water settings that features reversal which, at first viewing, may not even be apparent. I also find making my photos 'uncanny' very enjoyable, hopefully creating an interest in the viewer, perhaps subconsciously, to unravel what is going on in the image.
Maya's films do the same for me.
I'll leave a link below to some interesting videos about Maya's work and won't bore you with repeating here what is available elsewhere (and more professionally expressed, no doubt). instead, I will leave a few videos that we have done that were inspired by Maya's work.
