The Possession of Jack Torrance: Diary of a Photographer Page Three
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Inspiration for imagery can come from many sources. Reading is a big source of inspiration for me. I have a vivid minds eye and see scenes playing out while reading. I'm not alone in this certainly. I often think about how I could recreate those mental scenes in a photographic image, and that's what this entry is all about.
The Why
I read #TheShining for the first time back in 2010. The movie had always been one of my favorites, but anyone who has read the novel knows it is radically different from the film. Without spoiling for those who haven't read #StephenKing 's novel, there is a moment in the movie, the famous Here's Johhny scene, that I felt was a pivotal moment; the moment when Jack Torrance loses the last vestige of his humanity to the entity possessing him.
The moment of inspiration
In the novel the moment of absolute possession occurs near the very end of the tale. In this passage, Jack Torrance engages in a brutal act of self mutilation; a final desperate act, allowing his son Danny to escape. Reading the book gave me a much clearer picture of not only the true nature of the characters, but also the true struggle Jack Torrance faces. Drinking used to fuel his writing, and sobriety has caused a serious writers block! Add to that the stress of taking on the stewardship of The Overlook, chock full of evil paranormal entities and you have a recipe for disaster! Just add alcohol. And this is precisely what good old Lloyd provides. Below is an excerpt from the novel highlighting what I regard as the parallel moment to the Here's Johnny scene in the movie. It was also my initial inspiration; how could I represent this moment in a photographic image?
from page 483 of The Shining
instead of aiming at Danny, it reversed the handle, aiming the hard side of the roque mallet at its own face. […] Then the mallet began to rise and descend, destroying the last of Jack Torrance's image. […] What remained of the face became a strange and shifting composite.
The How
This image was created from a still of Nicholson's face leering through the busted bathroom door and displayed on my desktop monitor. A #Canon Rebel was the camera, and I exposed for 30 seconds. During the exposure I changed position, moving both side to side and leaning in an out. A manual zoom if you will. At certain points, I would place my hand over the lens to create negative space in the composition. The exposure for a normal still was three seconds. Expose three seconds, cover lens, move, burn in another three second exposure, leave hand off and lean forward/slightly to the side, burn in three more seconds. And so on. It was dark outside of course. Do you think I was successful in my goal of capturing the moment?
A window to hidden realities
One of the most fascinating aspects of the camera is its ability to see in ways we do not, or cannot! As artists we can, and should, use this peculiarity to our advantage. Experimentation, long exposures, panning, breaking rules......doing things with your camera you wouldn't normally do. This can lead to some happy accidents. And, if you pay attention to what you are doing and can repeat it, you might develop some interesting new approaches to image making. If you are using a DSLR, card space is cheap. Do some experimentation and try new things with your camera, you never know what strange worlds you might discover! Check out my pop up art shop from my last entry for your free art! A pop up on this post will be coming soon.
I am a photographic educator and my goal is to bring you insight to my process in hopes of helping you along in your photographic journey.
"Experimentation, long exposures, panning, breaking rules......doing things with your camera you wouldn't normally do. This can lead to some happy accidents. And, if you pay attention to what you are doing and can repeat it, you might develop some interesting new approaches to image making."
This part speaks to me the most about your post. Other than having the creepy feeling on how you edited the image above of course. Happy accidents are the path to innovation and invention for an artist too. Though my current art style does not use of existing images beyond references, I might try using images as a base now after absorbing the quote from your conclusion. It makes sense and I think that's what I'm missing to help me grow with my own art. :D
@adamada This is wonderful I am so glad to hear this. Thanks for the comment.
It's interesting reading about your creative process @deadcountry and that photograph is awesome. Really creepy, it would make a great album cover for a heavy metal band :-)
Thank you raj, your support is appreciated. Not all of my work is creepy Postmodernist influenced horror :) I'll get into some more aesthetically pleasing work, in time!
Reading novels (even after watching the movie) definitely gives one a clearer understanding the characters personalities, and you can use that knowledge to create that image (even if its in your head alone) you want and even add your own twist to it. its great that you are able to use that in your photography!
"Happy accidents" is where learning lies really. One needs to be open to the possibilities of learning things by exploring, experimenting and trying really different things. Even if it breaks the "rules".
Its a job well done!!
Thank you @audreybits
Hello very interesting post the photo looks cool but it is a bit to scary for me lol. I really like how you explained the how and why you did it,it is very interesting to read.
Thank you @drawmeaship
Amazing post. I'm so into horror stories so I guess I will love this. What's the name of the book??
It is The Shining, of course :)
Lemme see if I can get it online.. But which do you prefer.. Watching the movie or reading the book and why ??
If you have neither seen the film, or read the book, I would read the book first. As to why? I think you will get more out of the book, which will not spoil the movie. I'm not sure the opposite would be true, in this case.
Why do you think in this generation, people are so lazy to read books. They prefer to just wait for the movie
I think it is quite simple really. Escapism and the Internet.
The average person uses the book as a mechanism for escapism and the Internet is easier to access, provides more variety and instant gratification. Ultimately, a much more detrimental form of escapism.
I could hardly get students to read a two page online article when I was teaching college, much less an entire book!
If I had the Internet when I was a kid, I am not sure I would have been the obsessive reader I was. Changes for good and for ill. The Internet of course has had some very positive effects.
But it pains to see the value of reading go down the drain. Any suggestions for a come back ??
Short of mind control, or psychotropic medicines (i jest)? Good parenting, home schooling.....these sorts of approaches are really the only way to counter the long march through the institutions, as it is called. You have to start when the child is young of course.
StephenKing the King of the suspense it is a great writer thanks a lot for this resume.
Thank you!
Hi deadcountry,
Visit curiesteem.com or join the Curie Discord community to learn more.
@curie Thank you!
That is pretty cool, basically multiple exposures and angles mixed with dark spaces, to create a brilliant image that captures the character very well. I've often heard that a lot of older pictures where supposedly ghosts etc. were photographed, that many were double exposures, either by accident or on purpose to create the strange unexplained images.
Thank you @coinsandchains
You are quite welcome, it was a rather interesting grouping of exposures.
Hey man, didn't you get curied on this post last week? I just saw another notice for it this week, that's kind of weird.
@coinsandchains It must be for the author showcase?
Ok, I gotcha, that kind of sucks hitting their author showcase after post payout....
lol, the post was post-payout...
Hi deadcountry,
For whatever reason, this comment didn't register a couple days ago when I sent out invitations to the other authors for a showcase post published bi-weekly by Curie. I really hope you find value in being featured there, as I think you are a deserving author. Below is what the invitation comment looked like:
This post was nominated by a @curie curator to be featured in an upcoming Author Showcase that will be posted Late Monday/Early Tuesday (U.S. time) on the @curie blog.
NOTE: If you would NOT want us to feature your post in the Author Showcase please reply, email, or DM me on Discord as soon as possible. Any photos or quoted text from your post that we feature will be properly attributed to you as the author.
You can check out our previous Author Showcase to get an idea of what we are doing with these posts.
Thanks for your time and for creating great content.
Akpan (@curie curator)
[email protected]
This sounds excellent, thank you @curie.
The only thing I would like to add is a mention of the associated pop up art shops.
Something along the lines of:
My Pop Up Art Shop is my way of giving to you in the spirit of removing barriers. There are useful barriers and some that are less useful. I'll leave it to you to decide what those are. The point of this is to remove a financial barrier; between you and my art. I'll be focusing more on the marketing of my work in time, but there will always be my Pop Up's here for you on Steemit, so please take advantage! This is one way of giving back to the community which has inspired me to push my creativity to new levels! I need a little extra motivation, and this platform delivers like no other can.
Thanks to my fellow Steemians and @curie for your support.
@curie I have seen your entry and it is excellent. You summed up my thoughts perfectly. No further action required.