From the available images on the cottage website I drew up a layout of the living room to understand the window arrangement and identify possible angles. The manger I was going to use was on the end wall where a photograph of a plough hung and a bridle to one side.
My story had moved on from my wife as a stable hand. I was going to be the star of this show! I had produced a self absented portrait piece for assignment 3 so I felt it was a challenge to produce a self-portrait. I felt confident with this decision as I was presenting a single image for this assignment rather than a series.
The manger made me think of ‘The Nativity’ which I could light up to represent the baby Jesus. I also liked the idea of a burst of light from the sky representing being spoken to by God. I do not have a strong religious belief, it now borders on atheism, but I was brought up going to Sunday School and attended study groups during school holidays where I learnt all of the old and new testament stories.
As one of my props I would use the Bible that my Grandma bought me in 1975 (when I was 10 years old). Inside were the bookmarks I made at Sunday School which quoted sections of text and were placed at the appropriate chapters. Although I had only about half a dozen I thought I could show them scattered on the floor. Gregory Crewdson uses items scattered on the floor and I also thought of his image of the lady surrounded by flowers on her kitchen floor.
The idea progressed to being a scene where I am laying on the sofa in a troubled state, wondering about the meaning of life, having long since discarded religion but still wondering whether something spiritual exists that can help you through the tough times. I would dress in my work clothes with a scruffy unshaven look. The work aspect would tie in with the horse, plough and heavy bridle representing a hard slog.
My theological scene would contain symbolism using concepts that I studied in Visual Culture by Howells and Negreiros. The following aspects from my book review are relevant to my idea:
Iconology – The Arnolfini Wedding Portrait (1434) by Jan van Eyck (1395 -1441) communicates the purity and standing in society of a couple on the occasion of their wedding. The contentious aspect is the female figure appears to be pregnant – at least to the 21st century eye.
Form – Roger Fry’s (1866-1934) emotional elements of design – content secondary to form. Light and shade, colour.
Semiotics – Semiotics originated with Swiss linguistic analyst Ferdinand de Saussure. He showed that language was a system of signs or signals which enabled people to communicate with each other. The terms he used were: ‘signifier’-something that stands for something else; ‘signified’ – is the idea of the thing it stands for; ‘sign’ – is the union of the two. Where Saussure related semiotics to language, Roland Barthes (1915 – 1980) used it for images and published his thoughts in the book Mythologies (1957). One of his examples is a bunch of roses which he uses to signify passion. The roses are the signifier and the passion the signified. Each existed previously separately but when brought together the roses were ‘passionified’.
Images that inspired my thinking at this stage:
My story and scene necessitated the purchase of some lighting equipment. Research on YouTube detailed 3 point lighting: Key light, Fill light, Back Light. Most of them were using flash and strobes for studio portrait work. This wasn’t really what I wanted and I settled on researching ‘continuous’ lighting which meant I could see the shadows produced by my setup allowing me to make adjustments without worrying about flash synchronisation.
A couple of weeks of research and progressively adding Amazon orders and returning items I settled on the following equipment:
1 x 660 LED Panel 3360 Lux/m Dimmable 3200K – 5600K
1 x 150W LED Bulb
1 x 150W LED Spotlight
3 x heavy duty light stand
1 x lightweight light stand
2 x portable LED work light
2 x bulb holders with switch (1 with dimmer switch)
2 x colour gel set of 8 (including a blue and an orange)
2 x home made soft boxes
3 x extension leads
Items that I already owned that were packed for the shoot:
DSLR Nikon D7200 (Crop Sensor)
Various Lenses (35mm, 40mm, 18-35mm, 18-200mm)
Travel LED torch
Travel tripod ball head
Foil
Selloptape
4 way extension coil cable
Work shirt, tie, trousers and shoes
Bible and sunday school bookmarks
Talent, unshaven for 5 days, haircut 3 weeks overdue
I spent a few evenings at home prior to the shoot, trialling the new equipment and trying out different lighting combinations.
Martyn Rainbird 