One of the best examples of a picture made rather than taken
can be found in artist and photographer Joshua Hoffine. Joshua Hoffine does not
simply create pretty pictures, he tells stories, haunting tales that would
resound fear in anyone who views his works. Hoffine’s technique takes what we
know about light and color and puts it to work. For example, in his rendition
of Hansel and Gretel, rather than a house with an overwhelming amount of color,
Hoffine chooses to line only the windowsill with rainbow lollypops to
accentuate the only other vivid color in the scenes, the red of Gretel’s
dress. An example of the brilliant use
of lighting can be found in his image of the little girl’s fear of the
basement. The only light allowed in the
scene is through the door behind the girl and her flashlight. This brings the
focus to the little girl before the monster she dreads. In-fact, in all of his
images, the child is the focal point, only seconded by their fears.
Hoffine allowed his interest in fear and horror to push him
to ask questions. How far would he go to get the shot? Could he make-up one of
his family members rather than hire an expensive actor or could he re-use
sculptures if they convey the same mood he wanted? Because Hoffine asks these
questions, he creates extraordinarily frightening works. Hoffine wants the viewer of the piece to feel
each image as if they were the child. This is how Hoffine enraptures his
audience, by allowing them to rekindle their childhood fears and relate with
the fear of these children. Hoffine allows us to become children again, afraid
of the monsters under our beds or the beasts in our closet.
But I wonder if he
needs all of these theatrics to convey a sense of fear in his audience. With a
joint love in the psychology of fear, his images make me want to challenge
myself to depict fear without all of the fog machines and spotlights. I honestly think that with careful attention to light and color I can convey the message of fear with less elaborate scenes but hopefully with the same level of tory-telling as Hoffine.
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