Gregory Crewdson

Gregory Crewdson

Gregory Crewdson is a contemporary american photographer. He photographs the installations he has set up rather than taking from life.

His work is of interest to me because of his surrealist take on everyday situations.He uses blue hues to represent the emotions of the figures in his pictures it also makes them look like they are at dawn with the lighting he has used.

He uses a fly on the wall idea with his wide angle shots, it is easy to see that he was inspired by american artist Edward Hopper, his compositions bear many similarities like the angles of the rooms not quite matching that of a real room, or the idea of barren spaces. often Crewdson uses on particular surreal aspect in the construction of his image like objects that are out of place, or reflections that are not quite right. He uses mirrors as a motif in his work to give the illusion of more space. It is also an opportunity for him to distort reflections slightly to give an un-nerving mood.

These pictures are all staged and normally a set is created, this comes form Crewdsons influences and inspirations of films like 'Close Encounters of a Third Kind', most of his shots look like film stills which give them intrigue. We want to know what the story is so we speculate and study his photos.