Weird and Wonderful: Christopher McKenney

Christopher McKenney is a conceptual photographer from Pennsylvania who specialises in horror and surreal photography. His work presents a hauntingly beautiful visual of desperation. He says he likes to take away the identity when photographing as it leaves people thinking. He creates the photographs he does to express himself.

Moodboard on Christopher McKenney

Objectively, there is a chair placed in the centre of the composition. The background shows a rough forest background with uneven strands of grass around the subject of the chair bove the chair, there appears to be a mirror that is levitating. This is being held by an invisible person, as you can see the hands placed either side of the mirror frame. Within the mirror section, there is a repetitive image of the photograph. Subjectively, this creates a haunted and paranormal mood to the photograph. The chair, being an old and vintage, brings a sense of old beauty. The chair has a rough and edgy look to it, therefore making it blend well with the chosen background, as if it has always belonged in this environment. It could then reflect the past, the history of the chair- what it has seen through it's time, reflecting the way it has been preserved. The mirror element, subjectively, presents an illusion effect. It creates an uncomfortable feeling when looking at into the mirror. The invisible person holding the mirror could represent a sense of loneliness, hence the chair sat in the middle of the composition with a large amount of negative space around it. The repetitive nature in the composition could represent of ones mental state, reflecting the type of thought process that McKenney must go through to create a piece like this. Objectively, the style of the mirror and chair create an element of fantasy, each object fitting in with it's surroundings. Technically, McKenney has clearly drained the photograph of it's natural colours. There is a de saturation to the image to create the eery and monotone feel to the photograph. Personally, this photograph triggers memories of dreams that I have had in the past, due to the repetitive image within the mirror. To me, the fact the person holding the mirror is invisible relates back to my dream, in that it is not real, and that this is not reality. 

Response;

The photographs above, show my first experimentation using the techniques of Christopher Mckenney. This is a quick response that I captured during my lesson time. I took my model to a park behind the school. I brought along an old bed sheet that I used to wrap around my model. The first 3 outcomes, I used the full body. I varied the backgrounds and positioning of my model so that when I edited out the body, it created different shaping. The last composition is a portrait shot of just the head and the shoulders. I felt that this composition shows the face shape really well behind the sheet comparing to the full body shots. The technique that I used to create these photographs, started with the background image. I took a photograph of the background landscape first and then asked my model to step in front of the camera in the required pose. During post editing, I took the background image and the image with the subject, and placed one over the top. I then proceeded to use the eraser tool to erase the body to which I didn't want visible, revealing the initial background image. For these particular responses, I felt that this was experimental. The location could be improved, and linking more to McKenney's work- in and amongst the forest and trees. I felt that the last composition of the head and shoulders seemed more artificial. It is clear that I have used photoshop and it does not necessarily compliment the background, whereas McKenney's work blends in well with the background. As this was an initial experiment, I did not change the saturation or effects, as this was to get used to the technique. My next shoot, will contain improvements upon these initial photographs, taking into account which areas I need to change to make the outcomes more realistic. 

Further responses;

Here, are my response developments for the Photographer Christopher McKenney. Following on from my first initial shoot, I took into consideration the problems that occurred and tried to solve these with my second attempt. Firstly, was the location- I proceeded to take my model to a more convenient location relating more to McKenney, therefore, I shot these in a forest. I experimented with the technique used previously to create the surreal effect, however, using similar steps I had previously learned. For the first photograph, I took a singular photograph of the background of the bushes behind, I then placed my model in the centre of the composition, holding her hand out underneath the sheet to create the shaping for when I erase her body. In Photoshop, I then erased her body, leaving only the sheet visible. Along with this, I then decided to experiment with the saturation of the photograph to relate to the photographer. I wanted to create an eery mood to the photograph, yet still keeping the important colours that enhance the scenery. The next two photographs that I shot, I felt needed no extreme photoshop editing. I felt that these both looked weird and creepy on their own. I cropped both of these photographs and proceeded to change the saturation, brightness and the contrast to enhance the mood. Lastly, the photograph at the bottom took the most work in photoshop. I used the same technique as the first photograph- by taking an original background photograph, then taking a second shot with the model present in the composition. With this photograph, I copied and pasted the edited photograph within the mirror of the composition to give it an illusion effect. I am pleased with the surreal mood this photograph gives off, however, I feel that I would need to now use a tripod to help straighten up my photographs to refine the quality.