What is the uncanny?
According to the Oxford Dictionary it is something that is “strange or mysterious, especially in an unsettling way” (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/uncanny)
I was required to capture the uncanny in a series of six photographs for the second MEDA101 assignment. Three photographs were to be in studio lighting while the other three in natural lighting.
I used a mask to be the subject in this series of uncanny photographs. I used this object as it is something that diverts the onlooker’s attention away from the truth hiding beneath. A mask can be made from anything; paint, hair, plastic, shadows, and this object gave me endless possibilities to work with.
In my photographs, the subject’s face is never fully shown; either a physical mask is placed over the face or the lighting is set to cast shadows making the face unrecognizable. This allows the audience to focus on the uncanny subject; the mask, more than its environment.
Studio lighting photographs:
Natural lighting photographs:
kmm608 - MEDA101 