Compose styles
Rather than blending styles toward a middle, this gives them roles. The first one carries the structure, the next comes in as the accent, and anything after that shows up in a single detail. Where they fight each other, it says so before you start.
How to divide the work
- Composition
- Follow Japanese Realism Photography: Move in wide and keep hands and feet inside the frame
- Type
- Set in Japanese Realism Photography's manner (Headlines name the subject plainly, with no metaphor), and let Provoke's lettering (Type struck over the image and cropped, explanatory captions removed) appear only where you want the eye to catch.
- Material
- Ground in Japanese Realism Photography's material (Push the film, keep the grain, print on the hard side); bring in exactly one thing from Provoke (Pushed grain and crushed black, tone thrown away in exposure and development).
- Colour
- Build on #d4d4d4, #525252, #020202 and admit one accent from #fbfaf8, #3a3a3a, #000000.
Where they fight
- Japanese Realism Photography and Provoke both belong to Photography Movements, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable.
Caution
- Japanese Realism Photography The unstaged principle is proclaimed while the subject is pressed to stay as they are, and the relation between photographer and photographed goes unexamined.
- Provoke Adding blur and grain afterward as an effect leaves pictures that are merely rough, because nothing changed in how they were taken.
Image prompt
Produce four original images that take their structure from Japanese Realism Photography (style, 1950–1958) and their accent from Provoke (style, 1968–1970). ## What to make Make the kind of thing Japanese Realism Photography exists for: reporting on social issues that requires staying close to the people involved, or setting a shooting standard for open calls and staff-made photography. Choose one subject and hold it across all four. ## Structure comes from Japanese Realism Photography - The unstaged principle - Social subjects faced directly - Close wide-angle work - Coarse-grained prints Composition: Move in wide and keep hands and feet inside the frame. Type and lettering: Headlines name the subject plainly, with no metaphor. ## Accent comes from Provoke, used sparingly - Rough grain (are) - Blur and defocus affirmed - High-contrast black - Fragmentary framing Let one material quality come from it: Pushed grain and crushed black, tone thrown away in exposure and development. ## Colour and feeling Build the ground on #d4d4d4, carry the structure in #525252 and #020202, and let a single accent come from #3a3a3a. These are read off real works, so a direction rather than a fixed palette. Feeling to carry: trust, rebellion, intimacy, exhilaration, calm. ## Where they fight - Japanese Realism Photography and Provoke both belong to Photography Movements, so the difference is small. Push the roles further apart than feels comfortable. ## What goes wrong - Japanese Realism Photography: The unstaged principle is proclaimed while the subject is pressed to stay as they are, and the relation between photographer and photographed goes unexamined. - Provoke: Adding blur and grain afterward as an effect leaves pictures that are merely rough, because nothing changed in how they were taken. ## Across the four Keep the roles fixed in all four. Vary the framing, the scale and the arrangement so the set shows what this pairing can do rather than four versions of one picture. ## Constraints - Do not imitate, reference or name any specific artist, studio, brand, character or copyrighted work. - Do not reproduce the composition of an existing work. - Produce original compositions in the general period languages described above.
Related entries
- Japanese Realism Photography 1950–1958 / Style / Photography Movements
The postwar Japanese movement Domon Ken led under 'absolutely unstaged, absolute snapshots.' Hiroshima and Children of Chikuho faced society directly, drawing amateur monthly contests into the reconnection of photography and life.
- Provoke 1968–1970 / Style / Photography Movements
The magazine Provoke called itself provocative materials for thought. Working through are-bure-boke, coarse grain and blur and lost focus, it stripped photography of tidy meaning and gave seeing back its rawness.
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