These are some of the more recent raw 35mm slides of the mannequins at Wood Bull Antiques that may or may not become tintypes. I recently went back to the store with a tripod, which is essential to photograph some of these in dark locations since I loathe using a flash. As you can see, there are some men and children in the mix now; there was a misconception during the residency that I was only interested in photographing female mannequins - not so. It just so happened that the only dummies that were propped up in areas with enough light to photograph sans tripod were female ones.
Kip and Judy, the owners of the store, were very intrigued with what I was doing, and luckily they are (or were) artists themselves so they are perfectly fine with me mulling about and taking pictures of fake people. I must repay them someday by giving them a tintype, or maybe by buying one of their $1,500 antique dinner tables once I become rich and famous. Gad, there's some beautiful stuff in this barn.
3 comments:
Kevin, these are awesome! Those mannequins are just about the creepiest thing I think I've ever seen! But in a very cool way! They're completely unlike any other mannequins I've ever seen...I wonder, did the owners of the store make them, themselves? You said they were artists...
Are you thinking that this will turn into a larger series for you? What is your thinking behind this? I'm only asking because you mentioned you were going to try to get away from the "shoot first, answer questions later" mentality. Why are these mannequins so fascinating to you?
By the way, I'm totally not dissing you or anything. I think these photos are great and could be an awesome direction for you to play with.
Thanks, Neva! Yeah, I've been photographing these for a while, and I dunno, there's something about them and the environment they're in. You've got to see this antique store to believe it. As it stands, the mannequins are integral to one of the two main ideas I have right now that could become - dare I say it - thesis material at the end of grad school. I'm doing a lot of research on 19th century American portraiture photography, and I'm doing a lot more thinking and writing than art-making at the moment. Trying to slow myself down so I go back to the darkroom with more of a plan. In the end I don't know if this series will ever become completely "contemporary," whatever that means, but the more time passes the less I seem to care about that!
Kevin, your mannequins are compelling...the one of the blonde with the blue background feels "modern" and at the same time old fashioned. I mean 70's old fashioned. I think you have a whale of an idea here. Great!
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