So... I'm quite new to expressing my images in such detail so bare with me in the exploration.
This is a staged, exterior night shot of two half naked bunny-men lying in the grass. It is shot at night due to lighting techniques and the association I have with night as a time for fairy tales, escapism, dreams and fantasy. It is a time when we reflect upon the day and my senses are change. My perception of the world is quite different at night and I am more open to the endless possibilities that exist, and therefore open my mind to fantasy easier than within the boundaries and restrictions of daylight and ‘the real world’.
My images are shot outside to give them more visual (and imaginary) space. Reality, here in the form of grass and parkland, create a backdrop of realism to what is a fabricated scene of fantasy. This enhances the artificial/ fictional aspect of the main subject, the bunnies. I think of this image as the first scene of a play or a film. The spotlight illuminates the scene and our characters emerge from the darkness.
The image is surrounded and held by a thick, black frame. This represents the darkness of the mind in a way. You close your eyes and out of that initial darkness images appear. It represents a possible beginning, middle or end. When the whole series is put together the black framing will also help maintain a visual flow between the different images. The images themselves are so dark that I feel they need ‘protection’ against the hard brutality of a white wall. Black evokes a sense of potential and possibility; it is the color of mystery and the unknown/ unseen.
The light is painted on with warm toned torches. This way of lighting is similar in look to that of theatre, cinema, and somewhat painting. It challenges the time within the photograph (as it is obviously not a moment but rather a patch of time) and enhances the ‘unreal’ as the light comes from multiple angels in spots across the image. It looks very different to that of a ‘normal’ night scene. The duality light - dark represents where the conscious meets the unconscious, where fantasy meets reality. Out of darkness and the unknown, comes creation and life. Fantasy is after all also a form of recreation.
The bunny characters are two half-naked men wearing bunny ears and skeleton masks sitting in the grass. Their skin is almost glowing and the spotlight appears to lift them from the grass. Their pose is one of curiosity and perhaps surprise, as if caught off guard. These characters represent lust and desire as well as referencing a mix of the classical rabbit in ‘Alice’ and the evil bunny, Frank, in ‘Donnie Darko’. They extend an invitation to follow. Will you follow the rabbit into the dark?
Their skeleton masks points to a more sinister layer within the image, our vulnerability to the unknown and the fragility of emotions. The masks keep the bunnies (men) suspended between fact and fiction, in the borderland of imagination and reality. Their number, 2, further reflects a duality, plus-minus; feminine-masculine; it symbolically represents imagination, dreams, exchanges, communication and balance.
Behind the bunnies are a bunch of illuminated sticks. These represent the rabbit hole. It also helps aid the composition and the sticks add ‘drama’ to the image. In front of the sticks are the shadows of my legs. I left this in the image because I like how it refers back to the creation of the image and again the patch of time it takes to capture and create it. This is an illusion, and the legs are a reminder of that. What you see has been carefully created; it is an artifice, someone’s vision aka my vision. The legs become ‘the third’ of the image. The number 3 deals with magic and expression. It also represents time in past, present and future.
The colors of the image are vivid. The green grass, the sexual pink ears and skin tones. Green represents both the natural, and fresh as well as envy. The pink is sexually charged (hence the naked skin), and adds a feminie aspect to the masculinity of the male bodies.
The duality light – dark points to the borderland reality – fantasy. It blurs the edges and allows us to dream. The construction of the image does not hold restrictions of reality, but allows a meeting on my own terms. I have a feeling of choice. I can choose to indulge or not. I can dream, I’m allowed to imagine unrealistic things of magic and places of no boundaries.
In post-production this image is enhanced digitally by layering different elements. Post-production allows me to complete my vision and create this ‘looking glass’ to my imagination. Digital photography and manipulation allows flexibility in the relation to photography’s representation of the real and the unreal.
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