Artist: Neil Pardington
-photographer based in Wellington, Aotearoa, New Zealand.
Series: The Vault
-Polynesian Spear Storage
-2008
-LED/C-Print
-dimensions variable
Genre- documentation, expressionism and narrative
Approach: “A concept of the camera being a storehouse of
ideas and images.” The series focuses on the places where things are being
stored.
Method and Techniques: Pardington uses perspective very
frequently in this series to indicate the scale and order of the storage space.
He also uses colour, line and composition very carefully in this photo to guide
viewers to understand the meaning behind it.
Description:
-perspective,
symmetry and order
-door being a focal point
- Array of spears direct our eyes
into the door
- Blue colour of the door stands
out against the rest of the image
- Compositionally emphasised by the
door being on the centre
Context and ideas: The idea of storage is relatively weak in this image. However there are signs and traces which represent the
storage space. The image, I think, clearly communicates to us; it unfolds a
story as we carefully look at it. The photo has a strong focus on the door. The
horizontal spears immediately lead our eyes into the door. But what’s
interesting about this is that our eyes are drawn back out through a vertical array of spears. There is almost a duplex spacing appearing on the image.
Response: Polynesian Spear Storage is one of the most
successful perspective photos in the series. I was attracted by the unfolding
nature of the image. I believe the quality of the photo has risen by a
narrative embedded in it. I intend to use some of his techniques (composition, perspective,
colour, etc.) to build a narrative upon my series.
Series: The Vault
-Film Archive #4
-2006
-LED/ C-Print
-dimensions variable
Genre- documentation, expressionism and narrative
Method and techniques: Pardington uses colour, lighting and
composition quite dominantly on this photo. He, unlike “Polynesian Spear
Storage”, emphasized the shapes by taking an image almost in two dimensions.
Description:
-flat image
-Objects lined-up on the ground
-variety in shapes of the objects creates vibrance and contrast
against the rest of the image
-Combination of blue and yellow colour is dominant
Context and ideas: A concept of narrating a function of storage
spaces has continued in this image. The idea is shown very well. The image
seems compact and full but well organised which precisely represents a typical storage
space. The lighting provides glimpse of different potential sense to emerge upon
the hidden storage space. I think this photo not only narrates a story but it is
also visually powerful. The image is compositionally very successful and the shapes
of objects aligned on the floor create an interesting visual aesthetic to the
image.
Response: Through this image, I was inspired
to take flat, less distorted, images and to deal more carefully with shape and composition
of objects. I think what was really successful about this series, “The Vault”,
is that Pardington kept a consistency with the narrative whilst introducing contrast and variety in his photographical techniques.
Series: The Clinic
-Chairs
-2003
-LED/ C-Print
-dimensions variable
Genre: documentation and narrative
Approach: “The Clinic”
intends to document interior space of hospitals to generate a strong narrative of patients life in the hospital.
Pardington said photos “act as a metaphor: although not present in the image,
traces of events or people somehow remain in the spaces represented, and
consequently the images seem like stages set for unseen stories already told,
or about to unfold.”
Method and Techniques: Colour, composition, perspective and
lighting has planned and used deliberately to communicate a story.
Description:
-perspective and replication
-empty blue chair which lead our eyes to follow the
perspective line and eventually fade away
-the colour of the chair and emptiness of the space creates
a depressing atmosphere
Context and ideas: The idea of narrating the story is really
well done in this image. It feels almost like patient are still on the chair
waiting for their surgery although it is merely an empty chair. This emptiness is
a key element of the series. “He makes ‘nothingness’ both poignant and
meaningful.” His idea of enticing viewers to see the image with their own experience
works really well in this photo. The lighting is also well used here. The
darker space at the end of the perspective line, to me, indicates the death approaching
patients.
Response: I really admire the way Pardington construct the
photo to direct a story to be seen and identified to viewers very
concisely. Nevertheless Pardington also sets the image in a way that it is absolutely
up to viewers and their personal experience how they interpret the image.
“While an appreciation of the
importance of observation and metaphor underpin my current practice, of equal
interest to me is the personal experience an audience brings to the act of
viewing.”
I intend to deliver my own narrative of the space through some
of the techniques Pardington uses while allowing the viewers to imagine their
own journey through my images.
Reference:
Ewen McDonald, ‘Neil Pardington’, Contemporary New Zealand Photographers, Eds. Hannah Holm & Lara Strongman, Mountain View Publishing, Auckland, 2005, pp.48–55
Neil Pardington. The Vault information text. web
Neil Pardington. The Clinic information text. web
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