Jeff Wall Video

Jeff wall is a fabricated and staged photographer. He was one of the first photographers to work in large scale/ painting like. He originally wanted to be a painter and with that idea began working very large in photography, shown on large scale shadow boxes. He got the shadow box idea from advertisements in airports. He likes to take inspiration from famous paintings and transform them into conceptual photographic plots that he constructs.  He collaborates with performers so that they are more painterly than staged, decisive moment photography.  He is famous for his cinematic staged photography, where he worked with set designers to create his imagery.  His style is very documentary in nature but it is staged to look that way so that a great inference is developed from his imagery. 

I am a fan of his work and how seamless his large imagery is.  He thinks about the placement of every "performer" in his image.  The problem I have with my staged photography is that it looks very staged. I am impressed with the fact that he uses video as a teaching method for his performers to view what he wants so he gets the shot he desires. His most impressive work for me is pre-digital. The way he joins two or more large images in such a seamless way, he has a black line in a strategic place to bring the viewer back. "A moment of ugliness is always important"-Picasso. I do like his digital imagery but I am more impressed with the media and techniques he had to use to create his large scale imagery with darkroom equipment.   His military scene dead troops walking is very impressive but looses its effect for me when I find out it is a digital montage.  I enjoyed seeing his note images in the video, instead of just the finished product.