Constructed Realities
I have found that categorising the method of image-making, has allowed for what a first glance are polar extremes to begin to merge and create a grey area that encompasses all image production.
Jeff Wall, noted for the large works he creates, has two categories for photographers, The ‘Hunter’ or ‘Farmer’.
To familiarise this idea one has to consider how pictures are created within a practice. One option is to go out, as a street photographer might. Wandering around till the right light or shadow happens and ‘click’, the Hunter. Alternatively, the photographer may create their scene or stage it, only when it is as perceived ‘click’, Image in the bag, The farmer. It is clear how Wall fits into the farming division as his images are created on a mammoth scale with him being a director to actors and other assistants.
Wall is not alone in the large set farming style of photography with other practitioners such as Sam Taylor-Wood and Tom Hunter as examples.
With the Philip-Lorca diCorcia taking the farming down to a much smaller scale with the single protagonist in a much simpler staged photograph.
References
COTTON, Charlotte. 2009. The Photograph as Contemporary Art. (New ed. edn). London: Thames & Hudson.
Figures
Philip-Lorca diCorcia Eddie Anderson; 21 Years Old; Houston, Texas; $20 1990-92 https://www.moma.org/collection/works/50276
