(click images to make bigger)
Lucky Peach
Art Director: Walter Green
Fish Murderer: Jonathan Heindemause
Photographer: John Gall
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8 Comments
interesting images :) Thanks for sharing!
I guess there’s a certain theme (possible trend) going on here, and also with the Magnum ice cream bar photos below. The theme as I see it is borrowed from cosmetics photography — you know, the shots with crumbled lipsticks, or a smear of make up, or dripping nail polish, that kind of popular approach seen in all the fashion magazines, and then applied to other subject matter. In this case raw hamburger meat “dragged” over a white background. In the case of the ice cream I think it visually works, and is beautiful. Doesn’t make me want to eat the ice cream, but it does sell it to me, and it’s inspired and arty. However, I don’t think this approach works in the Lucky Peach spread above. My two cents mind you, the shots to me are ugly, the lack of saturation brings nothing to the table, the similarity to a Rorschach Test is not a plus, and it’s gimmicky. To each his own, no offense to anyone, and not by any means the final word, but this is my honest reaction — my comment. I will add, that I might have liked this approach with food if the food were perhaps strawberries, with better lighting showing saturated color and texture, and more appetite appeal.
you realize the images are not supposed to be beautiful, right? shots of frozen food after it has defrosted…
negative feelings are appropriate reactions to images too, so it seems the photographer did their job here.
LOL, no I didn’t know the images were depicting unfrozen food. Then in terms of lack of color saturation it makes sense. I clicked on the image to enlarge it, but I didn’t notice text mentioning this. However, I just re-clicked and enlarged it again and using a magnifying glass I can see the word “defrosted” in the upper left corner. It’s hard to read. I think a shot that is not supposed to be beautiful can be beautiful. Take Irving Penn’s cigarette series for example.
A comment that expresses dislike of a photo is not an example of “negative feelings.” It’s an example of someone stating their opinion. (And I went to great lengths to point this out,) I never implied that the photographer didn’t do his job, I just don’t like the shots, approach, or the wet staining effect around the food items.
I appreciated your comment Dan.. Not my favorite photos, but they are different, and get my attention (I also like the subtle association to the Rorshach test). One thing I do like about the daily edit however, is that there is never really any reference to the story the photos are coinciding with. It really challenges my often subjective opinion to view the photos void of the story, and think about how well they stand on their own.
Yeah, I’m often too opinionated. In this case, I believe my over opinionization (not a real word) hijacked the focus, which should be on the photos, and that’s not really fair to the photographer or art director, and I apologize for that. As such, if Rob wants to delete my comments, that’s fine by me.
He’s a designer right?
Yes, a super-talented top-notch designer.
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