Marlene Wynn - Weekly Post # 9

Cally Whitham

1. Artist Technical Choices
1.  New Zealand-based Cally Whitham strives to remind us of the grace and dignity of farm animals instead of viewing them simply as merchandise.  She has used an extreme zoom on each, focusing solely on the face and neck of each animal.  She has placed them in dark rooms and used soft lighting on them to make them appear more surreal and tender.
2.  Artist Conceptual / Thematic Intents
1. In the first photo, the image of a dairy cow (?) looks back at us.  All we can see is the right side of its face and neck; the shadows hide the rest of the creature, almost making it appear to float in the middle of the frame.  The soft golds and red-browns glow almost with a metallic sheen (which I love).
2. In the second photo, the bright scarlet reds contrast wonderfully with the golden yellow-oranges of the neck feathers of the male rooster.  The rooster is taken in profile, so we see more of his head and neck...only his chest and below is hidden in the shadows.  Though I don't know what it's called the white flap hanging from the back of his beak draws the eye immediately and really helps make this picture pop...and breaks up the "monotony" of red and yellow-oranges.
3. In the third photo, Cally truly captured the beauty of this sheep.  I think this is one of my favorite pictures.  The direct gaze of the sheep, the shine on its right eye, the attentive stance to the animal are all so telling and lovely to look at. 
3. My Response to the artist's Intents
1. To me, these photos actually appear to be paintings.  I love how well thought out each photo is, and this tells me that it took her hours to set up each one.  Not to mention trying to get each animal to look right at her and the camera...rather like herding cats or ants!  She had to have taken hundreds of photos just to find the right ones.