#eva brooks

Ben Whishaw

London, UK

Love Magazine

Autumn / Winter 2013

My next image that I will be researching is one of Tim Walkers portraiture images with the style being heavily inspired by Richard Avedon. Avedon makes sure to know his subject before he takes their image, Walker has similarly researched who this person is with a quote in LOVE magazine saying, “He has a poetry of gesture for the camera as well as a mystery - something of great value in today’s "reveal all” society.“[9] This image perfectly illustrates this quote with the seductive red material surrounding Whishaw as he plays a character in love in his best-known film, and the dramatic split of the face makeup acting like a mask, brings in that air of mystery about him. A makeup artist whom I imagine would have been briefed by both Tim Walker and by Ben Whishaw about what they wanted to achieve on this photo shoot would have perfected the makeup. Tim Walkers’ main focus with his portraiture work being; "who they are, what they represent, what I am attracted to about that person.”[10] The head and shoulders shot with the desk in the image is very similar in style to the work of Richard Avedon whom is already known to have inspired Walkers own style. “I don’t believe in originality. You take inspiration from whatever moves you and you find your voice in those things.”[11] This has been shot in a studio with studio lighting set by his assistants. The lighting in this image is coming from the left of this image, as that is where he is facing. This creates the effect of one side of his face in lightness and the other half in darkness where the shadows are. This backs up the image that Whishaw is representing of mystery and the idea of having two sides of him that people don’t really see. “Your aim as a photographer is to get a picture of that person that means something.”[12] The black border around the image is very similar in style to Richard Avedon who puts a lot of borders on his images. For my own images, I want to be able to portray the character of a person without being needed to explain. I will do this by using makeup, costume and direction for facial expression. I will use a white background as Tim Walker has with a mid depth of field for a smooth looking background. In a quote by Tim Walker, he says, “you can’t rely on set design”[13] therefore I will keep the image looking simply with my model expressing complex emotions through their eyes as I Tim Walker would have directed Ben Whishaw to do.