DISPOSSESSION PART 2 of 5: A NEW APPROACH - Reflecting on the creative process of my photograph for Kizuna

I delivered the file to the lab… I should mention that this is no Costco/Superstore/London Drugs lab we’re talking about - this is a pro lab that caters to high end fine art and commercial jobs where they produce prints for some of the most famous photographers in the world… and it’s just a little intimidating when they open your file and ask immediately – “would you like that corrected?” Indeed, and this brings me to my verbosity about one of my inspirations behind the approach I took in the creation of this photo.

Not so long ago, I left the comfort and security of a well-paying glass tower office career to go to film school. Excuse me? Pardon? You did what? Long story short, besides the financial sacrifices that this decision brought, it was a very good one for my soul’s sake. A few months from graduating I was hired onto a documentary production called Vancouver Rising (airs this fall on Bravo and Knowledge), which tells the story of Vancouver’s world famous fine art photographers the likes of Jeff Wall, Rodney Graham, Ian Wallace, Christos Dikeakos and others.

(Dead Troops Talk - Jeff Wall. An outdoor scene is reconstructed in studio with actors and digital post production)

This job was a dream come true, but I just didn’t know it then. At the time fine art photography was pretty foreign to me and talking about fine art photography went right over my head. All of my work for previous decade had been Cartier-Bresson/documentary/decisive moment inspired, and it was this approach I assumed I would be taking or my Kizuna assignment. As I witnessed these photographers at work, listened to their interviews, attended their exhibitions with them, and was even offered a job on one of their productions (which I had to turn down not once but twice!! Due to prior commitments. Arrrgh!), I began to appreciate their approach. Rather than being the observer in the moment, with a camera in hand, most of their work was pre-visualized, planned, then shot and constructed meticulously over a period of months, sometimes years – for one photograph. It was a film production-like approach in many ways with extensive pre-production and post-production stages. The shooting itself occupies a relatively short amount of time (assuming it’s well-planned and goes smoothly).

(Gastown Riot - Stan Douglas. You can see the real thing in the atrium of the Woodward's building. The scene was recreated, including the buildings, at location outside of Vancouver)

May I bring to your attention the Stan Douglas photo of the Gastown Riots in the atrium of the Woodward’s building as an example (if you can’t find it, just look up). You can also view the work of any of these photographers at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Anyhow, as my idea for my subject finally began to gel only 10 months after being commissioned by the JCNM (with only one month remaining to do it!) it was this meticulously planned and constructed approach in creating a single image that I chose. Next… the idea.