Gregory Crewdson

Gregory Crewdson

Crewdson’s work creates a huge amount of speculation. His photos are all staged and created by himself and his crew of up to 100 people. What i really find interesting about Crewdson’s work is his ability to create a sense of atmosphere in his photos. His photos are incredibly cinematic, they usually show a scenario just before something is about to happen or a scenario where something has just occurred. He is able to create a uneasy feel, a sort of isolation and there is definitely a aspect of anticipation. I have always admired his skill to create a scene that tells a story, a sense of narrative is something I feel like i’ve been lacking throughout my work. Although Crewdson’s work is incredibly detailed and does carry huge impact, I do feel that his work is sometimes too forced. His photos are obviously fake, although he spends hours making them realistic, they seem ‘hyper realistic’ / ‘too real’. Comparing this to Thomas Demand, who’s work is of the mundane and realistic you don’t really doubt it’s authenticity but there’s something captivating and uncanny when you realise it’s all folded paper. This is something I feel Crewdson is lacking, I fail to gain a sense of realism from his photos, especially when you are aware of his practice. Regardless of his practice, his photos do show too much of a falseness, they are almost too perfect then the audiences mystery and interaction is lost. 

What I want to take from Crewdson is his ability to create such an amazing set, to curate everything from casting, the layout of building and a key component is lighting. Crewdson’s lighting is incredibly detailed and he is able to create a very cinematic yet realistic lighting set ups. I’ve always thought that light is the most important aspect to photography, yet my previous work hasn’t worked with artificial lighting, therefore this is something that I really want to play with, and use to create visually aesthetic photos. Another aspect of Crewdson’s work I’m going to take into my own work is his ability to create atmosphere, I really admire how he is able to create striking images, and his subjects/models create this sense of isolation which really adds atmosphere to the photos.